Why people aren’t voting today

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Sonia Boze knew it was election season, but she said she did not get calls or mailers from candidates like she usually does. That might even be one reason why she didn’t realize it was election day, she said as she waited on a bus. Boze said that with DeKalb government ethics problems and “mud-slinging” in commission elections, “you don’t really know who to vote for ... do we even have serious candidates?”

There are as many reasons for not voting as there are obscure elections. The low turnout is probably helpful to insiders. And the United States, the land of the free and home of the brave, is near the top of the list when it comes to that dubious honor.

“Overall American turnout, when we compare it to turnout in other industrialized democracies in the world, is low,” said Andra Gillespie, an Emory associate professor who studies African-American politics and voter engagement, among other things.

Gillespie said most scholars attribute low turnout among the voting-age population to two things – for one, we require voters to opt in by registering. For two, we don’t require voting as some other countries do. So, in terms of turnout for the big leadership jobs, the U.S. lags behind places like Germany where registration is automatic, or Belgium, where voting is mandatory. 

In elections like the one today, a very small number of people will make the decisions, including on an Atlanta school tax worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and in the Democrat primary that might decide the next DeKalb CEO.

Look at it this way. The last time the United States had a presidential election, in 2012, about 750,000 people aged 18 or older lived in Fulton County, according to the U.S. Census. Some of them did not have the right to vote — maybe because of a felony probation, or because they were not citizens. But most did have the right to vote.

That November, a total of about 568,000 Fultonians were classified as “active” registered voters who had turned out in recent federal elections, and almost 396,000 did cast a ballot.

But in the July primary, a grand total 53,398 people voted. Besides partisan primaries for the men and women who work under the Gold Dome, and a primary challenge to Congressman John Lewis, D-Atlanta, that ballot included judges and a transportation tax. That means something a little over 7 or so percent of the voting-age population made the decisions in July 2012. In DeKalb County, the primary turnout was low too: there were about 538,000 people aged 18 and over. About 31,000 voted in the primary. By tonight, we’ll know how 2016 compares.

Oregon became the first U.S. state to experiment with automatic voter registration when in 2015 it passed a law that includes voter registration with a driver’s license unless the driver opts out. While some states allow same-day registration, Georgians must register a month in advance of voting.  

“Somebody who might not know or care about an election a month before … might actually become interested the week before and they’re not going to be able to vote in the election, they’re going to be excluded from the process,” said Gillespie.

Along with registration, every state has a different set of rules about when, where and how to vote. Almost everywhere, Election Day is going to be a day you need to go to work, a Tuesday, with limited exceptions, though early voting is available here and some states conduct elections completely by mail. Places like Georgia allow voter registration online. Some states are flexible about where voters can cast their ballot on election day. But those aren’t really the keys.

“If something that’s controversial or exciting is on the ballot, that’s what brings people out. You can adjust the laws all you like and it won’t have the same impact as having a controversial candidate or ballot measure,” said Wendy Underhill, the program director for elections at the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan think tank that studies the laws of the 50 states.

Also, there are tons of elections. Only the most knowledgeable, most engaged people take part in them all, said Gillespie.

The presidential election every leap year in November is only a start. In the other even-numbered years, Georgians vote for their statewide office holders, like the governor. And in all of the even-numbered years, including leap years, we vote for the state lawmakers who will work under the Gold Dome in Atlanta and for members of the U.S. House. In some even-numbered years, Georgians vote for a U.S. Senator. Next year, an odd-numbered year, Atlantans will vote for a new mayor and City Council.

And nearly every single one of these elections has a partisan primary. Sometimes there’s a runoff. The presidential primary was at a different time than the others this year. Sometimes there’s a vote for a sales tax or some other one-off question. Also, nonpartisan judgeships are up for election today.

“If there’s not a hot election, there’s sort of not that driving force to the voting booth,” said Kelli Persons, advocacy and programs director for the League of Women Voters of Georgia. “A lot of times what we see is when there’s a big contested, hot election you have a higher turnout.”

She also said the League often hears from people who simply didn’t know an election was happening. A lot of those down-ballot races don’t get a lot of public attention, and plenty are uncontested. (That’s one reason why the LWV invites you to visit its 2016 voter guide that tells you the races based on your address or lets you browse 755 races and 1,255 candidates.)

Gillespie said that both parties find the low turnout to their advantage. Democrats and Republicans both use software and voter lists to find and woo the folks who they know will go to the polls.

“Both parties can benefit from having a smaller pool because that’s less work on their part,” she said.

So, if you’re angry at both parties, maybe the best thing to do is register to vote. And if you haven’t voted yet, well, polls close at 7 p.m. Find your polling place here.