by Tony Jones

Created on: March 04, 2008   Last Updated: March 19, 2008

"Why don't some people vote?" This is a rhetorical question that plagues every modern democracy. In America, several constitutional amendments were passed to extend this precious right to include all members of society. And yet, this question constantly rears its ugly head.

It is particularly daunting when we already have the answers to this question but they lack immediate solutions. According to a US Census Report entitled "Voting and Registration in Election 2004" there were approximately fifty-five million potential voters who failed to register to vote in that last presidential election. Of these 15 million reported that they were not interested in politics, and another 6 million failed to meet registration deadlines. Other excuses include, disability, forgetfulness, ineligibility to vote, religious dissension and difficulty with the English language.

Also in this study, it was estimated that there were 215 million eligible voters, but yet only 142 million citizens actually registered to vote. Of that total only 89% reported that they physically voted. So what happened?

In essence - life happened. The largest group (20%) was simply to busy due to conflicting schedules. Another 15% claimed illness or disability as a cause for not voting. Surprisingly only 11% felt that their vote would have any affect, while 10% didn't like the candidates or issues. Some other problems included forgetfulness, confusion, and transportation problems.

And this is just the bad news. The good news is that we are learning from these mistakes. Thanks to early initiatives such as absentee ballots and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), the process of registering and actual voting has become more "user friendly". Historically, the likelihood that a registered voter will actually exercise the right to vote had been calculated at 89%, but with the removal of mechanical obstacles such as conflicting schedules and transportation problems these conflicts will become a thing of the past.

Couple these initiatives with the immediacy of the Internet and you have more exposure to the candidates and their positions than ever before. We are already seeing the benefits of this media. CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement) reported that the voter registration rate in presidential elections among young people reached its highest level in thirty years in 2004. An estimated 10.8 million young people voted in 2006-an increase of almost 2 million votes from the last midterm election in 2002. Furthermore, young people increased their share of all voters by one percentage point, from 10.2 percent in 2002 to 11.2 percent in 2006. And yet all of this was accomplished without the likes of the interconnectability of Facebook, YouTube, AIM, and MySpace.

Now young people are using the internet to communicate with peers and voice their opinions. A recent Harvard Institute of Politics survey discovered that an astonishing 82% of students at four-year colleges and 62% of non-college 18-24 year olds had been on Facebook in a two day period. Of those with Facebook pages, 41% say they have used Facebook to promote a political candidate, event or idea.

Candidates are not ignoring these new trends and have set up their own interactive sites to promote their campaigns. The end result will be a reduction in the numbers of non voters and an increase in informed registered voters. But will this ever result in 100% participation? I doubt it. Currently there are 32 countries with compulsory voting but only 19 enforce it. Even in these circumstances, 100% participation proves to be elusive. Obviously, in a modern democracy there will always be dissension, and that, my friend, is what democracy is all about.

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