In our society the majority of people have checked out of the election process. There are many reasons for this. BUT the root cause is by design I feel.

As a society we have focused on education but we have stripped out some of the core principles involved with education. We no longer teach our children the passion and desire to LEARN but instead we teach them how to memorize things. Passing a test is not an example of learning yet it has been equated to that.

This cycles into voter apathy because we no longer teach basic civics lessons to children. We do not educate our society how to get involved with the politics that impact them. The focus has been shifted from the immediate impact with local officials to the furthest which is federal officials.

Just a basic level view. Our local mayors, city council members, and county commissioners impact us within Day 0 – 6 months. Our state legislative and governors impact up in 6 months to 2 years. Our federal legislative and president impacts us in 2 years or more.

With that being said so much focus is almost always placed on the people that have the longest road to provide help and guidance. So because of that voter apathy is created. Voters will participate in an election by casting a vote and then disappear. Voters have turned to listening to the sound bites and what is said rather than looking at the voting history and what has been done. Politics is all about compromise. It is not about going and getting everything that you want and refusing everything that you do not want.

Because politics are about compromise people have lost focus when people support things that they may not agree with in order to gain access to things they agree with. Single Line Item voting would solve the concerns that people have about voting for things that they agree with versus disagree with BUT it also would create a strong chance of nothing getting done. If that happens and nothing is done how can we elect officials to get things done and complain when they compromise to get things done by agreeing to things they do not agree with to get things they do agree with? BUT that is what we have going on right now.

Voter apathy is by design. And the only way to solve it is to get people involved to elect officials that see the solutions, and agree with them, into position to do the things needed. Once a vote is cast the work is not done. Engagement with your elected officials is important. Writing a letter, giving them a call, showing up to events that they host are all ways that we need to work towards.

Please search up your county and ‘voter registration’ or ‘elections’ and check your registration status. Make sure you are registered correctly and see who your representation is and reach out to them via the means they make available. they are public officials and they need to hear from the public. They are counting on low voter turnout and low voter engagement. Show them otherwise.

-Cal