Tyler Bishop (Vanderbilt) on How It’s All About Relatability: Voter Turnout

Don’t get me wrong, as pessimistic as the outlook on lasting voter turnout may seem, I not only stress the importance of hearing the voices of all Americans, but I still hold on to my faith that there is an answer to our perpetual problem of voter apathy.

In theory, the beauty of a democracy is that all citizens can have a say in what their governing bodies decide. However, when people don’t show up to vote, only a certain group of people’s voices are being heard, and the decisions of a few begin to govern all.

I would love to believe that voter turnout suffers because people don’t see too many problems with our government – that we are so “satisfied” that there is no need to show up to vote. However, something tells me that this is not the case. Turnout is low because people find it hard to relate to politics, and we have yet to advance the system to seem inviting to people of all age groups.

It’s the twenty-first century. Let’s start acting like it. The Internet is used for almost everything in our informational-age society – shopping, communicating, reading, news, entertainment – the list goes on. So why has it not made its way into the most important part of the political system – voting? I daresay that the voices of many more Americans will be heard if on election day we were able to open an internet browser, have a tab open to Facebook, perhaps one to a website researching candidates, and one open to a secure voting website. We have the infrastructure, so why not?

Of course this solution only tackles the issue of relatability to the political system. There still remains the monstrous task of inspiring people to truly invest in the decisions that are being made that will affect their future. However, I believe bringing politics into the twenty-first century will increase the political dialogue and get our system on the right track to a future of more enthusiastic voting.