I don’t know the candidates or issues. My vote doesn’t mean anything. I am too busy. I forgot to vote. The list of “self-interest” excuses goes on and on.
According to Martin Wattenberg, the United States has the lowest participation rate in political elections. Yes, of the 153 democracies in the world, the United States is among those which rank at the bottom for voter involvement. Young people are the most absent from the polls. Abstainers outnumber political voters and the number is increasing with each succeeding election.
In Fitchburg alone, there are approximately 29,000 residents who are at the voting age but only 23,000 of them are registered. 16,750 are considered active voters but only 5,500 actually voted in the last election. Only 2.4% registered voters actually voted!
It’s mind-boggling and it really bothers me. Voter apathy and lack of civic responsibility show that we don’t believe in the privilege and the obligation to vote. Our next generation of voters will even be worse because they will never develop the habit or be motivated to vote. Some of them might not even bother to be registered at all.
I couldn’t help but ask: Do we really care about our country or our city? Doesn’t Fitchburg deserve to have more than 2.4% of the population speaking for all of us?
My questions only fall on deaf ears.