Why is Voting Important Anyways???

As we start our voter engagement projects, I think it is important to reflect on why voting is important in the first place. Below are my thoughts on voting, but I understand that voting is meaningful in many different ways to different people. I encourage you to share your own thoughts on why voting is important in the comments section.

Too often I hear people, especially young people, say, “Why vote when it doesn’t really matter anyways?” They feel disenfranchised and that the system is broken, so why bother getting involved? Many do not see any benefit from the representatives they elect, and often times do not see much of a difference between candidates. I understand these sentiments to a point, but voting does in fact matter. History has shown that only a few votes can change elections, change people, change events, and alter the course of humanity.

People often underestimate the power that they have, leading them to become cynical of the system. When I was a student government president, students would often remark how useless a student government was because we had no “real” power. Although these students were partially correct - student governments often have very few delegated powers - students always have powers in numbers and influence. If enough people become motivated about an issue, they can invoke lasting change.

Even in presidential elections, it can only take a few people to make a difference. Take the 2000 presidential election for example: only 537 votes separated George W. Bush and Al Gore in Florida, meaning that only 269 votes could have changed the outcome of the entire presidential election. Similarly, in 1876, only 445 votes in South Carolina could have swung the election between Rutherford Hayes and Samuel Tilden, and in 1884 only 575 votes in New York could have made a difference between Grover Cleveland and James Blaine. Out of the last 43 presidential elections, five could have been changed by less than 2,000 votes, while eleven could have been changed by less than 10,000 votes. (Sheppard1)

Given the fact that there are well over 600,000 students in Ohio, new student voters can determine the outcome in Ohio and very likely, the outcome of the entire presidential election in 2008. It is important to note that these examples are only from presidential elections. Imagine how many examples there are of close local and statewide elections in which only a few votes made a difference. One group’s registration efforts in a community can determine the outcome of any number of elections, starting from city council all the way up to the presidency.

In reality, however, this project is not about any one given election, local or presidential, or even about elections in general. This project is not even about the act of voting. Yes, our means and our goals of this project do center on getting more young people to vote in the November election, but the important outcome at the end of this one election cycle, will be to get students to engage in a lifetime of active citizenship. I asked Alex Keyssar, the Matthew W. Stirling, Jr., Professor of History and Social Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and an expert on democracy and voting, “Why is voting important?” His thoughts were:

Voting isn't important, per se – by itself, as an act in and of itself. But it is important to stay tuned in to what is happening in the world around you, what the state is doing, what policies are being adopted. It is important to try to understand what those things are and how they do affect you (because they do). Once you do that, you'll be likely to vote – because you'll see that it might well matter.

This project is about a lifetime of political engagement, of which voting is an essential part. President Lyndon Johnson said, “Voting is the first duty of democracy.” Voting is one act of political engagement but being an engaged citizen is much more. As I wrote in the first paragraph, voting means different things to different people. The point is: be an enlightened citizen and find what passion brings you to the polls. Abraham Lincoln said, “Elections belong to the people. It is their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”

People cannot ignore the world around them. If someone doesn’t like what they see, then they should change it and the first place to start is at the polls.

1. https://www.msu.edu/~sheppa28/elections.html#2000