Why doesn’t every eligible Californian vote? It could be many people don’t know how
On Election Day, I took an informal poll of my students about voting. The students were divided evenly. Half said they voted or planned to vote, the other half did not.
We don’t yet know the official voter turnout for the 2022 midterm. But historic data in California published by the office of the Secretary of State shows that turnout varies widely. In the 2020 presidential election, 70% of eligible voters voted. In the 2018 midterm, only 50% did.
Behind the numbers are individuals. I asked my students to explain why they voted or didn’t. One student said she voted because there were important local issues in her hometown. She felt she had to do something to help make a change. Among the non-voters, several students basically said, “I don’t really know who or what to vote for — or how to figure that out.”
That got me thinking. Where do people learn how to be democratic citizens? Where do young people learn how to decipher the ballot and get information about candidates or referendums? My students were at least thinking about this in my class on Tuesday. But what about those who don’t go to college? Where do they learn how to vote?
Some voter education occurs in high school. But I wonder whether those lessons stick with folks after they graduate.
No one is born knowing how to be a citizen. We have to learn how to vote, how to serve on a jury, and how to pay taxes. That learned behavior is not intuitive. It can be intimidating. And most people probably need a refresher course after turning 18.
When it comes to taxes, the state makes it easy. Sales tax is calculated at the cash register. And your employer typically deducts taxes from your paycheck. The hard part is filing your return. And many people hire someone else to do that for them.
But no one tells you how to go about voting or does it for you. And you can’t hire a proxy. Voting is voluntary. This is odd, if you think about it. Why is voting optional, while paying taxes is mandatory? That tells us something about our priorities.
This is not true everywhere, by the way. In Australia they have compulsory voting. Australians can be fined if they fail to vote. According to a New York Times report about this, voter turnout in Australia is over 90%. That report claims, “forcing people to engage in the process increases their knowledge of the issues and candidates.”
Some people choose not to vote as a protest. One of my students complained that all of those “politicians” are corrupt and she doesn’t want to vote for any of them. But of course, this is not true. And even if you accept the premise that they are all bums, there are better and worse choices among them. And when it comes to ballot initiatives, we’re not voting for people, but for policies.
So where do people learn how to evaluate candidates and ballot initiatives? I worry the answer is “nowhere.” That’s a shame. Yes, there is that thick ballot guide. And newspapers and other media provide recommendations. But is that enough?
One could argue that if people aren’t curious and self-motivated enough to read up on the issues, then maybe they shouldn’t be voting. It might be wise to abstain from voting about things you don’t understand. And maybe things would be better if the ignoramuses didn’t vote.
But everyone, even the untutored, has the right to vote. Encouraging people not to vote is not the way to improve our democracy. What we need instead is to imagine how we might better teach people to be citizens.
In a recent column in the Bee, Joe Matthews suggested a number of ways to tweak our system, including scheduling separate votes for referendums. In addition, I think we need to reconsider how we are educating people about the duties and rights of citizenship.
Thomas Jefferson once said, education is “the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” He’s right. But education does not end in high school. And each generation needs to be taught how to be a citizen.
