As a teacher, we emphasized our right and need to vote. This is a privilege that our service men and women are out there protecting for ourselves or trying to bring to others.
Our children were brought up to treasure this right as well. Jon and his Sarah even volunteered time in Chicago as poll watchers. Tiffany makes sure her husband's absentee vote is counted when he is traveling during election times. Having moved to Hawaii, I'm seeing a different state of mind. Hawaii has had the distinction of having the lowest voter turnout of all the states in the 2008 election. Good grief! This is when Hawaii's own, Barack Obama was running for President! I had to laugh when one of this year's candidates running for office in Hawaii touted the fact that he headed President Obama's election campaign here. I sure wouldn't have used that as a qualification to brag about.
Here are some excuses I've heard from people:
1. I don't know who to vote for so I'm leaving it to others who know more than I do and will do a better job of it.
2. I don't have the time.
3. My vote can't change anything.
4. They're all corrupt anyway so it doesn't make any difference.
5. I don't want to register because then they'll call me for jury duty which I don't have time for.
6. Even if politicians might be worthy when they are elected in, they are soon made corrupt by the system.
My mother hasn't been voting either because there was no one to help her with it. Now that we've moved back to Hawaii, I got her an absentee ballot written in Japanese. I was surprised that she definitely has strong views on many of the candidates. She's also listened to the news, and has issues that are important to her. A few of her votes cancelled mine out, but that's fine.
So why is the voter turnout so low in Hawaii? Please don't tell me they might not know there's an election going on.
David and I canceled each other's votes for governor and mayor, but we both agreed to vote alike for lt. governor and prosecutor.
ReplyDeleteI feel the school board should be appointed by the governor, as I know almost nothing about the candidates. My husband deliberately voted for haoles for the board for reasons I'll not specify.
Lisa? Indifferent. Won't vote despite having an absentee ballot. Shame on her!
Maria? Will vote at a polling site. Did not want an absentee ballot. Hope her polling site has not changed or moved.
Kay we noticed while living in Hawaii that apathy for a great number of things is incredibly high there. For instance, very few people care that the kids in Waianae can't read. Six percent of the 6th graders were reading on grade level at the start of the 2007-2009 school year. There was a party to celebrate the all time high.
ReplyDelete2007-2008 school year.
ReplyDeleteIf they can't read, they won't be showing up to vote -- or doing much of anything else.
I couldn't wait til I was old enough to vote! I am happy to say that all three children felt the same way when they became 18...however it is discouraging when I hear people say "its not worth voting for" or "my vote won't count". We are so very fortunate that we have the right to vote, get out and do it!
ReplyDeletegood for your mom...
ReplyDeleteI was raised in a "your vote is as private as your underwear" kinda enviroment. So I never heard politics talked about at the table or was encouraged to vote when I turned 18. I started voting for 10 extra credit points in History 101! The first time I voted I voted for Ross Perot because I didn't know who to vote for and didn't want to einey meney miney moe it:) It wasn't until 9/11 till I took my right to vote seriously. There are times Shane and I cancel out each others vote but we talk about it freely in our home and bring our children to vote with us. I want them to understand how important it is to vote on all levels. Not just the big presidential elections.
ReplyDeleteWell you know what I just did for the right to vote, so I totally agree with this post. And I LOVE Tiffany's night shot of Chi-town!
ReplyDeleteI try to vote, although I'm not always up on all the issues. Once my husband and I cancelled each other out.
ReplyDeleteIts great that people of my city show a lot of enthusiasm as far as voting is concerned.Political parties pay students,young people and others if they come forward to help people bring out for voting.Joan n Sarah look good --the message on their tees are not mere words.I hope more n more people realize this and come forward for voting.
ReplyDeleteI love this header image ...tell Tiff that she is a brilliant photographer.
We have the same problem in my country. It makes me angry sometimes. People died so we can enjoy this right, and we don't even care to exercise it? It makes their sacrifice seem so pointless.
ReplyDeleteMy point of view: if you don't vote, you shouldn't complain if the government is incompetent. You had a chance to change that government, and you bungled it. You don' get to be apathetic, and have the right to whine as well.
Fickle Cattle
ficklecattle.blogspot.com
There is no excuse for being uninformed about the candidates and using that as a reason not to vote.
ReplyDeleteI speak as a former President of Hawaii Island League of Women Voters and current secretary of the same. Among our jobs are informing voters, helping with registration drives, and getting out the vote. We need more members to help. One of our most dedicated State members, Jean Aoki, is in her 80's and still active, but where are the younger people??? We're getting old and see no successors coming along.
Six years ago I did a lot more than I do now. The most useful members are the newly retired. If you are in that category and seriously concerned about voter apathy, I urge you to join the League.
Could part of the low voter rate be due to culture? We have a large population of Samoans here, who are not very concerned about education or government. They still seem to think life is a beach.
ReplyDeleteIt can be tough to separate the different "tiers" of voting sometimes. In fact, a vote for the US President really does count for very little - and in the end it all gets overridden by the appointed members of the Electoral College (who have denied the popular vote of the US citizens more than once). So it's easy to see that and assume all voting is pointless - but in practically all local and state elections, each vote can count tremendously!
ReplyDeleteSome of the lower turnout could be due to this effect. Some could be due to lack of education. Some could certainly be due to the large number of cultures present in Hawai`i - as most are (or were) feudal or monarchal governments that simply didn't include voting.
On the other side of things, I have a friend who moved to the US from Brazil and he tells me that voting is required by law with severe penalties for not submitting a ballot - but even so, nearly everyone in the country is so enthusiastic to vote that they have nearly 100% voter turnout! Most joke about the penalties in the same tone that US citizens might joke about their kids going to elementary school. It may be required by law, but they'd be going anyway!!!
Linda: I was thinking it's just the local "hang loose" culture of Hawaii.
ReplyDeleteBryan: Wow! Thanks for your very interesting and informative comment. You really add a lot of further understanding to the conversation.
That's such a great photo of those two!
ReplyDeleteI've always taken my kids with me voting so they could be part of it. When I was little voting days always seemed like big community festivals really, a big celebration - but that's changed so much. I don't like how hostile and divisive voting has become in the past decade or so, and wish I could just skip politics altogether now. But, being aware and informed is one of the responsibilities of living in a democratic republic I guess.
I don't understand why people won't go vote either.