On Nov. 8 the U.S. election cycle will reach its climax when millions of Americans gather at polling stations across the country to cast their votes. Candidates for every level of government office, from district judges to Congress and the presidency will be on the ballots. Joining fellow Americans will be thousands of Duke students—your friends, classmates and even that acquaintance of yours whose political views you find atrocious.
Unfortunately, only about half of all eligible voters will actually turn out to vote. Low turnout is almost as much a part of American tradition as voting itself. No more than 60 percent of voting-age citizens have voted in a presidential election since 1968, and the figure hasn't risen above 70 percent since 1900. Even the expansion of suffrage to women and 18-year-olds under the 19th and 26th Amendments hasn’t stopped turnout from declining for over a century.
It’s not too late to reverse this trend. Every American of age—yourself included—has an obligation to vote on Election Day. We live in an heterogenous society, and with that comes a responsibility to ensure that the government reflects the diversity of the governed. How you vote is entirely your decision and whether you choose rightly or wrongly is beyond my judgment. However, our democracy desperately needs you to participate.
The campaign to increase voter turnout is alive and well at Duke. Many voting groups—Duke Democrats, Duke Republicans, YOUnite and YouCanVote to name a few—are already registering and educating students, but they haven’t reached everyone. Partly, this is because some students on campus have made up their minds not to participate. They are either disinterested or disillusioned about politics.
The disinterested reject the political process in general. To them, politics is an abstract, irrelevant, even boring thing. In my experience with potential non-voters, they describe politics as though it were a separate world from the one they inhabit, never affecting their lives enough to warrant their attention.
Perhaps this is you. Perhaps you’ve decided to sit out the election because politics just doesn’t seem important, or is just too overwhelming. I implore you to take a second look.
Consider how this election will affect your life. The taxes you’ll be paying in five years as well as the social security you’ll receive in 50 will be determined by candidates on the ballot in November. Health insurance laws, minimum wage and environmental regulations are all policies your vote can influence; policies that directly affect you, your health and prosperity.
Voting is not only in your own interest, but your community’s as well. Durham is a major refugee resettlement site in North Carolina. 200 to 300 refugees arrive each year in search of a place to rebuild their lives or raise their children. The state officials you vote for will determine how many refugees North Carolina accepts and how they are treated. The district attorney you elect determines who the state will prosecute and on what charges. If you have a friend in one of Duke’s ROTC detachments, the congressmen and president you vote for will decide whether or not they go to war.
We may choose not to concern ourselves with politics, but it will invariably concern itself with us.
The other kind of student is politically conscious, but disillusioned. They understand the weight of politics on their lives, but feel powerless beneath it. They decry the influence of big money in Washington and despair over rampant corruption in state legislatures. They are constantly reminded of the “dark heart” of American politics and, embittered by it all, they resolve not to participate in a broken system.
If this is your position, I sympathize with it. When almost every assessment of the political system in the media is negative, it’s easy to believe that system is irreparable. However, that defeatism is misguided. It will fix nothing, and more importantly it overlooks the fact that your vote is still a vehicle for change.
Remember that in 2008, Barack Obama won North Carolina by only 14,000 votes. While we don’t know precisely how many students voted that year, turnout is widely thought to have been at a record high and largely in Obama’s favor. Duke students did not single-handedly win the election, but their votes carried a level of swaying power that simply didn’t exist in most of the country. North Carolina is still a hotly contested swing state, with both presidential candidates polling within the margin of error. Your vote, especially here, is powerful.
Given what’s at stake in this election, voter turnout couldn’t be more important. The United States’ answer to policy questions ranging from illegal immigration to free trade and military intervention all hinge upon the votes we cast. The president alone has a daunting list of responsibilities, from continuing the United States’ economic recovery, to addressing inflamed racial tensions, responding to climate change and appointing up to four justices to the Supreme Court. The 2016 election will be one of the most impactful in generations, and you have the power to shape it.
If we want the system to work for us, we must force it to. When you choose not to register or vote you withdraw from the political process and make that process worse. Democracy is an ungenerous institution. It only works in the interest of those who participate in it. When voter turnout is high, politicians must be more skilled at compromising and proposing ideas that appeal to everyone. The result is better candidates with better policies working in the interest of more people.
In a low-turnout election, politics becomes stagnant and toxic. Politicians can campaign on singular issues. They can focus on negative ads rather than positive proposals. They can deceive the public and get away with it. Admittedly, high-turnout elections aren’t immune to this, but they are certainly more difficult to manipulate. If for no other reason, you should vote because it will make our democracy more representative and put pressure on politicians to perform better and be better.
There are many legitimate reasons to be angry or disappointed with American politics. There is no excuse not to do something about it.
Ian Burgess is a Trinity sophomore. His column, “from the mountaintop,” runs on alternate Fridays.
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