A Reluctant Democracy

Many Americans were reunited with their democratic roles during the 2006 mid-term elections. With the Senate and House of Representatives up for grabs and US troops in the midst of a “conflict” that’s been labeled everything from – Operation Iraqi Freedom, to the Second Gulf War, to an all-out disaster – the aroma of change in the air matched the enthusiasm from citizens who had seemingly rediscovered their civic duties. Miami-Dade County and most of Florida, however, did the electoral equivalent of calling in sick on November 7th.

While optimism ran rampant heading into the general election, the truth of the matter is that the so-called winds of change were meek, albeit effective. The Democratic Party did take control of Congress, as pundits on every side of the fence predicted – some more begrudgingly than others. But while the ship is now a shade bluer, the change in direction can be attributed more accurately to the current, than to it’s relatively stagnant sails.

Statewide, voter turnout was a meager 46.8 percent, the lowest percentage in the last 44 years and a full 20 points below the 1994 race that saw Lawton Chiles edge out Jeb Bush, after referencing something about an old raccoon. For those who remember, Chiles celebrated wearing a coonskin cap that year. In the recent election, more than half of Florida’s registered voters opted to do something other than Rock the Vote.

The Sunshine State has not exactly been a shinning beacon of the electoral process in recent memory. This time it wasn’t as much the suspected corruption, as the indifference before a purportedly pivotal election that raised eyebrows. Despite flaunting the state’s largest number of registered voters (just over 1.09 million), Miami-Dade County had an alarmingly low turnout. According to the Department of State’s Election Division, Only 37.7 percent of the county’s registered voters punched in their ballots for the mid-term election. The state, as a whole, didn’t fare much better, with 45 of the 67 counties coming in at under 50 percent. Miami had the third lowest of all Florida counties, behind only Hendry and Osceola counties, which combine for just over one tenth as many registered voters.

So what happened to all the enthusiasm leading up to the election? People provide laundry lists of reasons why they choose not vote. In truth, it’s probably a combination of many factors. While in a small voting line at Emerson Elementary School, Lydia Souza, a structural engineer who was voting on her lunch break, talked about taking time out to vote.

“I barely ever have the free time when these things come around,” she said. “I didn’t get to [vote] last time and I figured I’d take an extra 20 minute break and do it. I used to think that one vote wasn’t going to matter much anyway. I know that sounds bad.”

Mike Grossi, a substitute teacher at a local high school, elaborated more candidly on that matter.

“This stuff is probably all decided by the people organizing it,” he said. “Look what happened with the last [presidential] election.”

With people who are actually in the voting lines giving reasons why they would not be there, what can we expect from those who decided to stay home? Disenchantment, lack of free time, insufficient knowledge of the issues or candidates, mistrust of the government, a distaste of negative campaigning, all reasons that have been given for why people are turning away from the voting booth. Yet, these obstacles are present during every modern election and not just for voters in Miami-Dade County. There’s also no evidence that the influence of these obstacles in and of itself is growing, except of course, for the decline in voting.

It’s also been argued that the US political system is one that discourages voter turnout. Voters, who live in states which consistently elect members of one of the two major political parties, have a tendency to undervalue their individual vote. Florida, traditionally and overwhelmingly Republican, may serve as an example of this. What you end up with is a significant number of individuals, reluctant to vote, because they believe their vote is insignificant.