“Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all …
the apathy of human beings”
Helen Keller
It’s often been said, for every complex problem there’s a simple answer … and it’s wrong! The so-called “motor-voter” bill which sailed through Congress this past week is a perfect illustration of this adage in action.
Having finally isolated the phenomenon of low voter turnout, the Clinton Administration and its Congressional supporters, in typical fashion, enacted a cure-all bill. Unfortunately, as with their attempts to “stimulate” the economy and “create” jobs, these isolated elitists failed to grasp the basic, underlying problem and thus, their solution threatens to create more difficulties than it solves.
While few would argue American voter participation is a national disgrace, there is no valid evidence to suggest potential voters lack a relatively easy means of registering to vote. Rather, it’s apathy not access which is the problem!
Examine voter participation statistics which follow every election. Based on the percentage of registered voters who actually vote, national election figures rarely approach seventy percent … while most local elections are lucky to bring out twenty percent of the registered voters.
Predictably Congressional logic dictated that since so many people fail to register, it must be the process (society) which has excluded and therefore disenfranchised them. Not discussed are the partisan implications of demographics studies suggesting many non-registered voters would likely enroll as Democrats.
While permitting voters to register by mail is manageable, mandating motor vehicle registries, public assistance offices and scores of social service agencies, all of which are historically understaffed and underfunded, be required to serve as voter registration sites opens a Pandora’s box. At a time when nearly half of the states are running in the red, demanding they implement another costly program is irresponsible.
The bill quite reasonably permits registered voters who change residences to reregister at their new address … but then allows them to vote in either jurisdiction … or both? A reasonable means for purging voters’ names from lists on which they legitimately do not belong also appears cumbersome, at best. Finally, there seems to be nearly limitless opportunities for voter fraud … on a scale which might dwarf Chicago’s 1960 presidential results.
Florida, Rhode Island and Maine, where limited variations of this bill have been implemented, are experiencing the some of these sobering consequences.
When will Congress learn … democracy is not a free ride?
In truth, voter registration is rarely a difficult process anywhere in the United States! Still, and arguably, cities and towns could be more aggressive at enticing voters to register … perhaps through outreach programs targeting local high schools, colleges, nursing homes, business parks and other community-based locations. However, such programs must be managed by those individuals who are held accountable (a word long ago exorcised from the beltway lexicon) for maintaining the municipality’s voter checklist. Given true national leadership, these efforts could become a reality.
Concurrently, citizens who wish to participate in their government need to appreciate they have certain obligations. Among these are the need to become educated and informed about candidates and issues, to become fully eligible to vote and to get to the polls on election or town meeting days and cast their votes!
What Congress, the Administration and the social engineers who drafted this legislation overlooked is many people choose not to register, and of those who do, significant numbers elect not to vote for reasons having nothing to do with registration procedures.
Rather, this voter apathy results from a government which a cynical public increasingly deems as unresponsive, out-of-touch and/or incompetent.
For legislators sincerely in search of real political reform, bringing more voters into the process and educating them on the issues … there are constructive solutions which are easily implemented.
While any such legislative agenda could be debated, it might start by significantly reducing the costs involved with seeking public office, eliminating the perks of incumbency, excluding all soft money contributions, removal of all barriers to ballot access for minority parties, requiring more equity in media access for independent or “third-party” candidates, limiting terms of members of Congress, and actively encouraging states to follow similar guidelines … as well as enacting non-burdensome initiative petition procedures for their citizens.
