That’s a dangerous headline, but it’s true. I want fewer people to vote. Now, I am not talking vote or voter suppression, I am disappointed in the electorate overall. While some lament the voter turnout in the August Primary Election, I do not. In fact, it’s quite possible that too many people voted.
What am I saying? I'm saying that many people are far too disengaged to be making these decisions. For years candidates in even Primary Elections have come to me with concerns that voters they meet, even super voters- those who vote in every election, are relatively clueless when it comes to issues and candidates they are choosing with their ballots.
Door knocking candidates get to talk with voters face to face. The usual question is party affiliation and if it matches that of the voter, the voter tells the candidate the vote will be for them. But, wait a minute. We are talking Primary Elections where the majority of the decisions are between candidates of the same party. The generic party answer is not sufficient to make that decision. The candidates end up explaining that to the “super voter” who either listens or doesn’t and goes on about his or her day.
It’s the same in General Elections, like the upcoming November midterm. Not all Republicans are conservative (or even Republican thinking) and not all Democrats are part of the radical fringe that gets the media limelight. A straight party line vote is for the non-thinking voter. It’s fast. It’s easy and it requires little to no thinking. Do we really want to leave the operation of our governments to that kind of consideration?
It’s the same with ballot initiatives or constitutional amendments. Most of them will pass come Election Day even with a higher threshold to become law. Why? Voters are not engaged. If they read a measure’s title or a summary we’re lucky. Yet these measures pass with almost no consideration for their actual impact. Some have disastrous consequences.
In the August Primary 27.28 of Brevard’s eligible voters turned out. That’s 123,919 of our 454,230 registered voters. When you first look at it, it seems sad that nearly ¾ of registered voters didn’t care enough to participate. But, think about that. If they don’t care enough to show up and vote (when early and mail balloting make it so easy) do we really want these folks marking a ballot?
I think not. How likely are they, if they did not vote, to have done any research into the candidates on the ballot? And if not, how did would they make the choice? An endorsement? A mail piece, sign or friendly face on a door hanger? No, thanks. Please, just stay home!
In some ways a General Election is easier. There are party lines for most races. The lazy voter can pick teams, toss a coin or decide their vote by which candidate has the best looking campaign shirt.
But then we’ll also have constitutional amendments and county charger proposals on the ballot. How does the disengaged voter decide on those? They don’t and that’s the problem. The issues can be complex and require some digging to make a good call.
That’s why I strongly prefer the uneducated or disengaged voter just stay away from voting altogether. We'd get better government that way!