3 ms·
Local elections everywhere have a lower turnout than national elections. It's how Biden could win Arizona and then have the state do it's audit. Just as much,
by joe_the_user 5y ago
Local elections everywhere have a lower turnout than national elections. It's how Biden could win Arizona and then have the state do it's audit.
Just as much, having a system bought and paid for by billionaires will turn people off voting, whether you or I engage in "you're abandoning your civic duty" hand wringing or anarchist chuckling. Maybe if more people voted you could inch things forward but at scale, voting requires positive hope and aspirations. The current situation isn't intended to give that to the less-well-off person.
- javajosh 5y agoWell, hand-wringing doesn't do any good. To me, it's a legitimate mystery, independent of how it should be I'm actually curious to understand why things are the way they are. We know people behave in reaction to incentives. So what are those incentives? How are they communicated? Why are they effective? I'm not sure what element of science it is (sociology? political science?) but it's an interesting problem - and certainly not unique to 21st century USA! I mean, these same questions are interesting to ask in many historical contexts when seemingly civilized, rational groups suddenly take a collective moral nosedive, to their own great detriment. Blacks not voting is a relatively mild case compared to the self-destructiveness of Germany in the 1930's or the USSR in the 40's-80's or the Cambodia of the 70's. There's plenty of other examples, too. Maybe if we can figure it out we can reduce the harm when it becomes an existential threat, as with climate change and WMD.