11 ms·

So why is voter turnout so low?

rgbrenner 10y ago
I think voter turnout is low for 2 reasons: 1. Tuesday voting. It's a work day. People have to work. They aren't going to skip work (and maybe jeopardizing their food and shelter) just to go vote. 2. They're angry and apathetic. People vote for change candidates and people that promise to disrupt Washington. What does that tell you? People don't like their choices. They feel like the candidates barely (if at all) represent them or their interests. They disapprove of Congress and they have little confidence in government (and have on both points for quite a while). So some of them decide to stay home instead. For 1, we have mail-in ballots and early voting. And for 2, it really doesn't matter how easy you make it to vote. That's not the problem.
- douche 10y ago
  It's absurd that voting day isn't a national holiday.
  - jrockway 10y ago
    I'm not sure making it a national holiday helps. If you have a heart attack or your house catches on fire, what do you do? Deal with it until Wednesday? No, those people will be working. In New York, your employer has to pay you for two hours to go vote. http://www.elections.ny.gov/nysboe/elections/attentionemployees.pdf http://www.elections.ny.gov/nysboe/elections/attentionemploy...
    - rgbrenner 10y ago
      I've always thought they should move it to the weekend (both days). I think it would be possible for everyone to get one of those days off.
    - ewams 10y ago
      "Election Day" is now just the last day you can vote. "Early Voting" has been available for the past 2 weeks in most places. Polls are open on the weekends.
      - rgbrenner 10y ago
        there are 13 states that don't permit it or require a valid excuse: https://ballotpedia.org/Early_voting https://ballotpedia.org/Early_voting
        jrockway 10y ago
        Yeah, I'm jealous of my friends from other states that get to vote early. Seems much less stressful to sit by your computer so you can Google whoever you want before voting for them. Sadly there seems to be zero information about judges on the ballot. Except one guy in my district who was added to the ballot by mistake; he doesn't want to be a judge, and isn't qualified. He was nominated accidentally because he has the same name as a prominent lawyer, who also doesn't want to be a judge. Worst form of government except for all the others...
        rgbrenner 10y ago
        Judges are hard to vote on.. I usually can't find much on the internet on them. In Colorado, for the past 30-or-so years, there's a "State Commission on Judicial Performance" and they review the judges and it's added to the voter booklet. They put it online: http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/review.cfm?year=2016 http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/review.cfm?year=2... And an example of one of their reviews: http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/retention.cfm?ret=1095 http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/retention.cfm?ret... It's not perfect.. they recommend all of the judges be retained. No matter how bad they are. So you have to ignore that, and read the review which seems more informative (IMO at least).
        gizmo686 10y ago
        There is a line of thought that says that judges should not be elected (which most of the world follows), because being subject to election forces them to make the popular decision, instead of the legally correct one. In this light, there is very good reason to recommend that judges be retained; as having judges be worried about retention causes real problems for our judicial system.
- prawn 10y ago
  Tuesday voting seems crazy. Why not just put it on a weekend?
exolymph 10y ago
In 2014 I abstained from voting as a political statement: https://www.sonyaellenmann.com/2014/12/why-i-didnt-vote.html https://www.sonyaellenmann.com/2014/12/why-i-didnt-vote.html (Albeit a juvenile one.)
sidlls 10y ago
This is a complicated question that can't be addressed thoroughly (breadth and depth) in a comment in a Hacker News thread. A bullet-point list that overlaps other comments and summarizes my views: * Voting isn't easy * Lack of candidate variety or genuine difference in candidates voters have information about on the ballot (two-party system is a problem) * Lack of responsiveness from elected officials (vote doesn't matter) * Vote tabulation is opaque and at best suspect (electronic voting, vote-by-mail, and other schemes hide the counts--they simply cannot be trusted, at all) * Little or no voter education efforts

I think voter turnout is low for 2 reasons: 1. Tuesday voting. It's a work day. People have to work. They aren't going to skip work (and maybe jeopardizing their food and shelter) just to go vote. 2. They're angry and apathetic. People vote for change candidates and people that promise to disrupt Washington. What does that tell you? People don't like their choices. They feel like the candidates barely (if at all) represent them or their interests. They disapprove of Congress and they have little confidence in government (and have on both points for quite a while). So some of them decide to stay home instead. For 1, we have mail-in ballots and early voting. And for 2, it really doesn't matter how easy you make it to vote. That's not the problem.

douche 10y ago
It's absurd that voting day isn't a national holiday.
- jrockway 10y ago
  I'm not sure making it a national holiday helps. If you have a heart attack or your house catches on fire, what do you do? Deal with it until Wednesday? No, those people will be working. In New York, your employer has to pay you for two hours to go vote. http://www.elections.ny.gov/nysboe/elections/attentionemployees.pdf http://www.elections.ny.gov/nysboe/elections/attentionemploy...
  - rgbrenner 10y ago
    I've always thought they should move it to the weekend (both days). I think it would be possible for everyone to get one of those days off.
  - ewams 10y ago
    "Election Day" is now just the last day you can vote. "Early Voting" has been available for the past 2 weeks in most places. Polls are open on the weekends.
    - rgbrenner 10y ago
      there are 13 states that don't permit it or require a valid excuse: https://ballotpedia.org/Early_voting https://ballotpedia.org/Early_voting
      - jrockway 10y ago
        Yeah, I'm jealous of my friends from other states that get to vote early. Seems much less stressful to sit by your computer so you can Google whoever you want before voting for them. Sadly there seems to be zero information about judges on the ballot. Except one guy in my district who was added to the ballot by mistake; he doesn't want to be a judge, and isn't qualified. He was nominated accidentally because he has the same name as a prominent lawyer, who also doesn't want to be a judge. Worst form of government except for all the others...
        rgbrenner 10y ago
        Judges are hard to vote on.. I usually can't find much on the internet on them. In Colorado, for the past 30-or-so years, there's a "State Commission on Judicial Performance" and they review the judges and it's added to the voter booklet. They put it online: http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/review.cfm?year=2016 http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/review.cfm?year=2... And an example of one of their reviews: http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/retention.cfm?ret=1095 http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/retention.cfm?ret... It's not perfect.. they recommend all of the judges be retained. No matter how bad they are. So you have to ignore that, and read the review which seems more informative (IMO at least).
        gizmo686 10y ago
        There is a line of thought that says that judges should not be elected (which most of the world follows), because being subject to election forces them to make the popular decision, instead of the legally correct one. In this light, there is very good reason to recommend that judges be retained; as having judges be worried about retention causes real problems for our judicial system.
prawn 10y ago
Tuesday voting seems crazy. Why not just put it on a weekend?

exolymph 10y ago

In 2014 I abstained from voting as a political statement: https://www.sonyaellenmann.com/2014/12/why-i-didnt-vote.html https://www.sonyaellenmann.com/2014/12/why-i-didnt-vote.html (Albeit a juvenile one.)

sidlls 10y ago

This is a complicated question that can't be addressed thoroughly (breadth and depth) in a comment in a Hacker News thread. A bullet-point list that overlaps other comments and summarizes my views: * Voting isn't easy * Lack of candidate variety or genuine difference in candidates voters have information about on the ballot (two-party system is a problem) * Lack of responsiveness from elected officials (vote doesn't matter) * Vote tabulation is opaque and at best suspect (electronic voting, vote-by-mail, and other schemes hide the counts--they simply cannot be trusted, at all) * Little or no voter education efforts