Why they don't vote

[Jaxson]

Why they don't vote: Behind the opt-out trend in Jacksonville
Though many are able, few follow through.
Posted: February 14, 2011 - 12:00am

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-14/story/why-they-dont-vote-behind-opt-out-trend-jacksonville#ixzz1Dx7db59X

By Mark Woods
We don't know who will be Jacksonville's next mayor or fill some of the 19 City Council seats. But it doesn't take a pollster to make one prediction about what will happen in our upcoming election.

Most people won't vote.

Although there have been some spikes for recent presidential elections, voting has been on a steady decline since Kennedy vs. Nixon in 1960. And when it isn't a presidential or midterm election - when it's a purely local election like the one on March 22 - adults who don't vote inevitably outnumber those who do.

Even the 2000 presidential election, which not only showed how close a race can be, but also led to a wave of more convenient voting options in the last decade, didn't change that.

In 2003, a year featuring a hotly contested mayoral race in Jacksonville, about two-thirds of the voting-age population didn't vote in the first spring election. In 2007, with 12 City Council seats on the ballot but the mayor running as an incumbent, about 83 percent of the voting-age population didn't vote.

And while the tea party recently has channeled some voter discontent into votes, for the last four decades another movement - or non-movement - has led more and more people to stay away from polls.

Why don't we vote?

We asked nonvoters that question and got a variety of reasons. But start with the one Carl Weathington gives every time his wife, who does vote, tells him he should: "It's a waste of time."

Weathington, who lives on the Westside, will turn 65 in April. He's never voted in his life. One time, decades ago, he thought about voting for a presidential candidate.

"And then I said, 'If I vote for him, he's going to be like the rest of them, and get in there and not do what he said he was going to do,'" he said. "So I figured it was just a waste of my time and money and gas."

Liz Nichols has different reasons for not voting. She has had more important things on her mind. For 21/2 years, she has been battling cancer. But it's more than that. She says that she stopped voting when she moved from Maine to Florida, partly because she was having trouble keeping up with all the candidates and issues.

"And I think rather than make an unintelligent decision it's better not to vote," said Nichols, who lives in Riverside. "I know I should, but it's just too overwhelming. I believe there are a lot of people out there who think the same way but do not want to admit it."

Whither the black vote

Where do the hard-core nonvoters fit into the strategy of this year's candidates?

The simple answer is they don't.

It's not that the candidates don't want their votes. It's that their campaigns have a limited amount of time and money. They try to use that time and money as effectively as possible, several campaign consultants said. They try to convince likely voters for their candidate to become actual voters for their candidate.

In this election, perhaps the biggest turnout question, especially for Democratic mayoral candidate Alvin Brown, is how many black Democrats will vote.

In the first election of 2003, even with former Sheriff Nat Glover running for mayor, the turnout among registered black Democrats (40 percent) was lower than that for white Democrats (45 percent) and white Republicans (47 percent). In the mayoral runoff, black Democratic turnout did jump to 56 percent, but it wasn't enough for Glover to defeat John Peyton.

And in the first 2007 election, only 16.7 percent of the 145,978 registered black voters actually voted.

The Rev. Kelly Brown, pastor of Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist, said: "In our community, it's a shame, a crying shame, that all of us don't get out and vote in every election."

He says that people in his congregation do care about voting. Still, he knows that they don't all actually do it. Before the last election, he asked, "Is there anyone here who is not a registered voter?"

No hands went up. But when he looked at the voting numbers broken down by precinct, the turnout wasn't as high as he had hoped in some areas.

"Given the history of the fight for that vote, it just irks me," he said. "It's like a stone in my shoe. I'm probably the wrong one to ask [why people don't vote], because I really don't know why."

Train the citizens

Curtis Gans, the director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate, has spent years dissecting that question, crunching numbers and analyzing data.

He says that despite the high turnout in what he calls votes of "passion" - 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 - there has been a progressive and deepening disengagement.

"The basic trend is toward lower participation," he said in a phone interview. "And it gets worse as you go down the age scale, down the income scale, down the education scale."

He's writing a book about voting. The introduction begins: "American democracy is in profound distress." He points out that places like Germany, Sweden, Denmark and others routinely have higher voter turnout than we do. The basic explanation, he says, is that there is better training for citizenship.

"And television has not succeeded in destroying their politics," he said.

It isn't a surprise that the way campaigns are run leads to more nonvoters. But it might be a surprise that absentee ballots and other forms of "convenience voting" do.

His explanation: People who request absentee ballots are people who would have voted anyway. And by spreading out the voting, you are diffusing the power of election-day mobilization.

He worries that all of these factors combined means a nation that prides itself on having government of, for and by the people is becoming "a government increasingly, by dint of disengagement, a government of, for and by the interested few."

Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, is among those trying to change that, starting with middle-schoolers. He co-sponsored a bill that, starting in the 2011-12 school year, will require seventh-graders to take a civics class and eighth-graders to pass a civics test.

Before the House vote on the "Justice Sandra Day O'Connor Civics Education Act," McBurney gave an impassioned speech on why it was needed.

"We all know the statistics," he said, pointing out that 40 percent of Floridians can't name the three branches of government but can name the three "American Idol" judges. "If there is one subject we should be teaching our children, it's the importance of our republic and what it's about."

Start with kids

John Louis Meeks Jr. knows how important it is to teach our children about our government. He does it every day.

Meeks, 36, teaches social studies at Mayport Middle School. He has been politically active ever since he was a teenager, writing letters to the editor. When he turned 18, he drove to the Supervisor of Elections Office in Green Cove Springs to register to vote. Even when he was in the Air Force, stationed away from Jacksonville, he made sure to vote by absentee ballot.

But here's the thing: He is "seriously considering" joining the nonvoter ranks. Not forever. But for this election.

"I am not very encouraged because it feels like the winners are already chosen before the first ballot is cast," he said. "It feels like a waste of energy to get involved when the results seem to favor the same powerful clique of people and their interests."

This doesn't mean he tells the students in his American Government class that civic involvement isn't important. To the contrary, he talks about it all the time. But he often talks about the many different civic avenues they can take. Voting is just one of them, he says.

But when his students are old enough, he hopes they will vote.

And he hopes he will be voting with them.

mark.woods@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4212

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-14/story/why-they-dont-vote-behind-opt-out-trend-jacksonville#ixzz1Dx7Uc7EI

Source: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-14/story/why-they-dont-vote-behind-opt-out-trend-jacksonville

[Bativac]

Most of the people I know don't vote in local elections, and probably half of them don't vote in national elections. Of the people I know who do vote, I would say 80% of them vote for whoever their party runs.

It's a shame. I like to complain along with everybody else but I feel like if you don't vote, you kind of lose your right to complain. It's like complaining but not doing anything to change it.

Many of us work and have busy lives and can't attend city council meetings or other opportunities for public comment but we can at least vote for somebody and try to shape public policy that way. I think as a resident, a citizen and a taxpayer, it's the least you can do.

[BridgeTroll]

Awesome find Jaxon!  Glad you posted it.  This is why we have Rick Scott for Guv...  

[Doctor_K]

This is why we have Rick Scott for Guv...

Yep.  Thanks a lump, do-nothings.

[Timkin]

Most of the people I know don't vote in local elections, and probably half of them don't vote in national elections. Of the people I know who do vote, I would say 80% of them vote for whoever their party runs.

It's a shame. I like to complain along with everybody else but I feel like if you don't vote, you kind of lose your right to complain. It's like complaining but not doing anything to change it.

Many of us work and have busy lives and can't attend city council meetings or other opportunities for public comment but we can at least vote for somebody and try to shape public policy that way. I think as a resident, a citizen and a taxpayer, it's the least you can do.

For the most part , I would tend to agree with this theory..... On the other hand TOO OFTEN in the past , Promises to make things better , and then the same ole same  have been the trend.. I can see both sides.  I guess If one never votes , in a sense they really cannot complain..but what if they did vote and the person elected turns out to be a numb skull?  (often the case )   

It is a gamble either way.

[jcjohnpaint]

This is why the rich make sure to vote....and the poor and middle class? 

[cityimrov]

Most of the people I know don't vote in local elections, and probably half of them don't vote in national elections. Of the people I know who do vote, I would say 80% of them vote for whoever their party runs.

It's a shame. I like to complain along with everybody else but I feel like if you don't vote, you kind of lose your right to complain. It's like complaining but not doing anything to change it.

Many of us work and have busy lives and can't attend city council meetings or other opportunities for public comment but we can at least vote for somebody and try to shape public policy that way. I think as a resident, a citizen and a taxpayer, it's the least you can do.

For the most part , I would tend to agree with this theory..... On the other hand TOO OFTEN in the past , Promises to make things better , and then the same ole same  have been the trend.. I can see both sides.  I guess If one never votes , in a sense they really cannot complain..but what if they did vote and the person elected turns out to be a numb skull?  (often the case )  

It is a gamble either way.

People, for some reason, like voting for con men and only for con men.  When the con men's con is revealed, these people get disappointed until another con men raises their spirits about the previous con men.  

It's like those people who keep falling scam after scam after scam.  Whenever you try and tell them about scam, they then put you off and if the scam happens, they then go crazy and are afraid anything till another con man comes peddling more snake oil.  When a real doc comes and says all it takes is a bit of rest and maybe some soup and you'll get better, they think it's a con because the previous guy they talked to was a con man!  If a person says the only way you can loose weight is to eat less and exercise more, they ignore them and for some reason go towards the guy selling "loose weight fast buy following me". 

The worst part about is they think EVERYONE IS A CON MEN because they seem to only react and pay attention to CON MEN!  It's crazy how people vote.    It's a vicious endless cycle.  

[Timkin]

Honestly.....its very difficult for ME  ( I can only speak for myself ) to tell who is not a "con-man" .

What I observe (and I could be completely wrong about this , but I don't think I am)  ...

ALOT of the people in office these days are wealthy or come from wealth...are making more wealth while being in office, but  costing all of the rest of us , and making no REAL POSITIVE FUNDAMENTAL Changes for the better , for all.

Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong .

[BridgeTroll]

Most of the people I know don't vote in local elections, and probably half of them don't vote in national elections. Of the people I know who do vote, I would say 80% of them vote for whoever their party runs.

It's a shame. I like to complain along with everybody else but I feel like if you don't vote, you kind of lose your right to complain. It's like complaining but not doing anything to change it.

Many of us work and have busy lives and can't attend city council meetings or other opportunities for public comment but we can at least vote for somebody and try to shape public policy that way. I think as a resident, a citizen and a taxpayer, it's the least you can do.

For the most part , I would tend to agree with this theory..... On the other hand TOO OFTEN in the past , Promises to make things better , and then the same ole same  have been the trend.. I can see both sides.  I guess If one never votes , in a sense they really cannot complain..but what if they did vote and the person elected turns out to be a numb skull?  (often the case )   

It is a gamble either way.

People, for some reason, like voting for con men and only for con men.  When the con men's con is revealed, these people get disappointed until another con men raises their spirits about the previous con men. 

It's like those people who keep falling scam after scam after scam.  Whenever you try and tell them about scam, they then put you off and if the scam happens, they then go crazy and are afraid anything till another con man comes peddling more snake oil.  When a real doc comes and says all it takes is a bit of rest and maybe some soup and you'll get better, they think it's a con because the previous guy they talked to was a con man!  If a person says the only way you can loose weight is to eat less and exercise more, they ignore them and for some reason go towards the guy selling "loose weight fast buy following me". 

The worst part about is they think EVERYONE IS A CON MEN because they seem to only react and pay attention to CON MEN!  It's crazy how people vote.    It's a vicious endless cycle. 

This is nothing more than an excuse... and a poor one at that.  The vicious cycle is laziness and disinterest.  Your reply only speaks to the small minority who bother to vote.  How about the vast majority who cannot find the time to put down their iphone to vote?

[Jaxson]

What is most discouraging is that our city's current leaders have very little to show for their time in office.  Blame it on the economy, but I think that it goes beyond money.  Our city's leaders have little to no vision.  And, when people have ideas for improving th city, our city leaders either ignore the citizens and choose solutions that actually make matters worse. 
This whole situation is frustrating because we once were a progressive city that was taking bold steps to a better future.  Today, our city's government seems to be content with just preserving their own power or with moving up the ladder to higher office.

[Doctor_K]

This is why the rich make sure to vote....and the poor and middle class? 

What does socioeconomic status have to do with it?

Furthermore, how can you prove or what do you have to support this?

If I vote, does that make me rich?

That's one of the most ignorant things I've heard in a while.

[BridgeTroll]

This whole situation is frustrating because we once were a progressive city that was taking bold steps to a better future.

Hmmm... perhaps most who could vote then... did.

Today, our city's government seems to be content with just preserving their own power or with moving up the ladder to higher office.

Since the majority of folks who could vote do not... They are quite clearly content with city government.

[Jaxson]

This whole situation is frustrating because we once were a progressive city that was taking bold steps to a better future.

Hmmm... perhaps most who could vote then... did.

Today, our city's government seems to be content with just preserving their own power or with moving up the ladder to higher office.

Since the majority of folks who could vote do not... They are quite clearly content with city government.

The better question would be for us to ask ourselves, "How can we better involve people in local politics?"  If we engage voters with vision and ideas between elections, they have a stronger stake in local politics.  Instead, most citizens are more concerned about their beloved college football teams, their favorite reality shows or their addicting Facebook simulation games.

[Bativac]

This whole situation is frustrating because we once were a progressive city that was taking bold steps to a better future.

Hmmm... perhaps most who could vote then... did.

Today, our city's government seems to be content with just preserving their own power or with moving up the ladder to higher office.

Since the majority of folks who could vote do not... They are quite clearly content with city government.

I don't know if "content" is the word. I think it's more likely that they just don't care. I mean, if they need a new roof on their house, or the neighbor is constantly playing loud music and having wild parties, or their daughter is failing her classes and hanging out with the wrong crowd, what difference does it make who their councilman is, or who the mayor is?

I'm young, no kids, plenty of time outside of work to go vote. Not everybody has that luxury.

[BridgeTroll]

I think it's more likely that they just don't care.

Do you suppose the politicians see that?  Why should they care since a large majority doesn't?  We have a conservative GOB local government because those are the ones voting.

I'm young, no kids, plenty of time outside of work to go vote. Not everybody has that luxury.

Again... this is just an excuse... and a flimsy one.  Early voting gives everyone the time to go cast a vote.