Finally, the US is waking up to the fact that voting rights should not be taken for granted
Amy Wu says there appears to be an upswing in interest in America’s presidential election. And that’s a good thing, as the power to choose should not be easily given up
Here in the US, politics is all-consuming. That’s not exactly surprising since the US presidential election is only four months away.
The bad news, according to many of my fellow Americans, is that the election appears to be one of the strangest in recent memory, thanks in part to the colourful cast of candidates. “The pickings are slim, I don’t think any of them are good,” a good friend said. “And if Trump wins, I’m moving to another country.”
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But the good news is that this election has lit a fire in the belly of many citizens, which is translating into action at the voting booth. All signs are that there has been an uptick in the number of registered voters, which has been low in recent history. For a long time, about half of Americans eligible to vote have either failed to register or turn in their ballots.
According to the US census bureau, only 57.5 per cent of the 218 million Americans eligible to vote actually cast their ballot in the 2012 presidential election. Why? In previous years, I’ve thrown away my vote for a number of reasons, most pretty lame. Filling out change of addresses and dealing with more paperwork can be a pain.
I’m far from alone. According to the US census, the key reason why Americans don’t vote is because they are too busy; 28 per cent stated that as the reason while 16 per cent said they weren’t interested. The election department in the county where I live held numerous voter information forums on “what to expect” on election day, which were loosely attended. Holding the forums in the early evenings to accommodate the mass working population didn’t make a difference either.
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