~54% of the Populace Doesn't Vote!
Written by John Rozewicki   
Monday, 25 September 2006

Indignancy

Voting is how we decide as a society what we feel should be done, and you’ll never hear more about it than around election season. Those who didn’t seem to care too much about exercising their rights before, suddenly become indignant about their feeling that absolutely everyone should vote. P. Diddy’s Vote or Die campaign comes to mind.

54%* Don't Vote

However, an interesting fact is that the majority of this country doesn’t vote. Losing the right to not vote (enforced compulsory voting) would affect more people than losing the right to vote. According to population figures from the 2000 US Census and the 2004 Presidential Election Results, about 42% of the country didn’t vote; 87 million people over the age of 18. In the 2002 Mid-Term Election this number shot to 65%; 135 million people over the age of 18. If there were to be a very ironic vote taken concerning compulsory voting, approximately 54% of this country would probably vote against the idea.

Protecting the Right to Not Vote

We talk proudly, and at length, about how great it is that we can vote in this country, but I’m more proud to live in a country where we have the right to not vote. Other people in other countries, such as Australia, do not have this right. That’s garbage. A right is not a right unless the inverse of that right is also a right. More simply, it’s not a right if you’re being forced to do it. Nobody needs to fight for the right to do popular things. They’re just givens. Nobody needed to fight for the right to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle. Historically, nobody needed to fight for the right to discuss how great they thought the current king was. People only need to fight for the right to do stupid, offensive, or unpopular things. In this country, I don’t think we need to continue talking about fighting for the right to vote with every election. Voting is popular. Those who do not vote are publicly admonished or insulted. We’re told that if we don’t vote then we’re not patriotic, or not American. We’re told we shouldn’t complain because we didn’t do anything to change it.

Why I've Not Voted

I say “we,” because I’m one of the Americans that haven’t voted in the past 4 years. I’m not unpatriotic. I’m proud to live here, and not elsewhere. I’m not ignorant. I listen to hours upon hours of talk radio each week. I try not to miss watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report every night. If anyone should be voting, it’s me. But I’ve not voted in the past few elections because I’ve not seen a candidate compelling enough for me to bother going to the poll. We can talk at length about what we think other people should be doing, voting, but we’re missing the important question. What does it say about our political system when the majority of the populace chooses not to have a voice in it?

Why Other People Don't Vote

To me, it says that maybe there just might be a problem with our political system. It’s either that or the people in our country just suck. But remember, even if the majority of the populace sucks, they are still the majority. Their viewpoint is relevant, for better or for worse, simply because they make up the majority (more conservatively, something very close to the majority) of what we call our country.
* - A Special Note About Numbers:
The numbers I use in this article are fairly rough, and I wouldn't be comfortable putting them up for scientific scrutiny. However, they do seem to reflect the overall trends. We can quibble over the specific percentage of people, but the fact still remains that a ridiculous percentage of the United States doesn't vote.
2000 Census Data 2004 Election Numbers 2002 Election Numbers
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