A Common-Sense Column on Voting

This guy’s making wayyyyyy too much sense. What’s he doing in The Toledo Blade (probably requires registration)?

Greg Franke actually has the nerve to think that the apathetic and uninformed shouldn’t vote. Well of course they shouldn’t:

Please, apathetic citizens, forget about voting

THE belief held by a substantial majority of respondents to a recent bipartisan poll that American voting practices should be changed to encourage more voter participation is misguided for several reasons.

This is the case primarily because the whole issue is based on a widespread but false premise that has become something of a sacred cow in the United States and most democratic countries.

Namely, that it is a citizen’s civic duty to vote. That noble sentiment is not in itself misguided. In an ideal world, where all citizens strove to inform themselves about the issues and their consequences, total participation in the electoral process would be a good thing.

Unfortunately, in the real world this is simply not the case. It should seemingly be self-evident that those either ignorant of or indifferent to matters of public policy should not be begged to cast a vote that will undoubtedly reflect that ignorance and, or, indifference. In fact, it would seem much better not to coax them to do something they are disinclined to do, but rather let the important issues of the day be decided by those with the greatest stake and the most informed perspective on those issues.

However, unassailable though this observation may be, this has not stopped the incessant cry that low voter turnout in America is some kind of “crisis” that must be “rectified.”

In addition, whether one accepts the idea that low voter turnout is no cause for alarm, the fact remains that attempts to prod unwilling people to the polls have not been successful.

Some of these attempts would even be funny if they weren’t such a sad indication of American political apathy.

Consider the “motor voter” initiative whereby one could register to vote when taking care of business at the motor vehicle bureau.

….. it was thought that allowing people to register in the course of other (presumably more important) activities would cause them to vote.

But alas, registering and actually voting are two different things. At times it can be indeed a laughable spectacle: Despite registration cards lying mere inches away from motor vehicle patrons, clearly inviting them to register, it was decreed that even this consideration was not enough. Bureau personnel were instructed that they had to actually ask the people if they wished to register, and in some cases were even called on the carpet if they didn’t.

It seems that this omission constituted the “disenfranchising” of prospective voters - a notion even sillier than the one fashionable five years ago that voters whose ballots were discounted because they failed to follow instructions were somehow “disenfranchised.”

….. The adage that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink was never more apt. A similar scenario will undoubtedly recur if the reforms presently under consideration are enacted.

….. And anyway, there’s nothing wrong with the notion that voting should entail at least some small sacrifice. If people can be dissuaded from voting so easily, maybe it’s good that they choose not to. The essential point is that while there is nothing inherently wrong with many of the proposed measures, they are nonetheless harmful because they serve only to reinforce the fallacy that everyone - even those with no such proclivity whatsoever - should feel bound to vote.

On the other hand, some of the proposals recently debated would in fact be downright dangerous. For example, large-scale expansion of absentee balloting with no reason required, or allowing voters to cast ballots any time during a weeks-long interval prior to the election date, are simply an invitation to fraud.

….. That’s simply too great a risk to take simply to proffer chronic non-voters the type of opportunity they have historically not availed themselves of anyway.

The undeniable fact is that the present system, while not totally devoid of minor inconveniences, cannot in any way be construed as erecting unreasonable barriers to those truly wishing to vote.

….. In short, it’s the civic duty of citizens to cast an informed vote (and by extension to take the trouble to inform themselves). Until this happens, reforming our voting practices will be ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst. In the interim, let’s invite the apathetic among us to just stay home.

Supplemental points: If you don’t vote, don’t complain. If you don’t vote and still complain anyway, I could care less. And, note to pollsters: If someone isn’t a voter, I don’t care one bit what that person’s opinion is, nor should legislators or newspeople. Non-voters choose to make themselves irrelevant, and should receive the treatment they deserve.