Oddbean new post about login | logout @134318c2 @0145c0c5 This is the issue that gets me the most. For most of my lifetime, voter turnout *among registered voters* has been around the 50% level. I absolutely understand the various voter suppression policies that have helped with this, and have kicked into high gear as Republicans see themselves losing the demographic advantage, but that doesn’t account for *all* the nonvoters. Is it just everyday cynicism? Too hard to vote? Other? 🗳️
@3896693a @0145c0c5 In some cases it's that it is too hard to vote. The locations change, people are removed from rolls, after moving, you have to re-register etc. In places like NYC where voting is frankly pretty easy, often there isn't much to vote about. Close elections are rare, so a lot of the low turn out is from very blue or red areas where showing up doesn't change much.
@134318c2 @0145c0c5 Right, good point. I remember that in Maryland my family used to vote in a desultory sort of way, because our district was reliably Democratic. That gets into the whole nightmare of gerrymandering, too. Ack. I’m in Georgia now and working with Fair Fight, and the dirty vote-discouraging tricks are through the roof. No mystery here when they purge voter lists, shut polling places, cut absentee ballots, challenge voter registrations… 🙄🤬
@134318c2 Texas has enacted election laws whose effect is to make urban voters have to wait in long lines to vote, while rural voters can be in and out in 5 minutes. There is also a strong fatalistic attitude ("the Republicans are going to win anyway"). If you're certain that your vote won't change anything, and you know voting is going to be an ordeal, AND you think Democrats won't help you either..? Then a lot of people will not vote. Texas cities are majority Dem. @3896693a @0145c0c5
@7ede54aa @3896693a @0145c0c5 In case anyone thinks there are lines in the cities in TX because cities have more people, in NYC I have only ever waited in line once 20 years: 2016 for about 10min. And that was more like a party than a line, everyone wanted to vote for the first black president (south bronx) I do wonder why that 10min line isn't there every time. Further, I suspect if the line was there often they would increase the number of polls. I never wait. No one should.
@134318c2 @7ede54aa @0145c0c5 I mean, they said the quiet part out loud in Georgia when they outlawed bringing food and water to people in voting lines which are, as you say, mysteriously absent in majority-white communities. And though that particular provision was overturned, there are still other strategic discouragements from the same bill still standing.
@134318c2 @7ede54aa @3896693a @0145c0c5 A few years ago I posted a question on /askreddit “why don’t more young people vote?” I got a LOT of replies and about 98% said voting is “too inconvenient,” AND the respondent would absolutely vote if it were online and secure, like bank or credit transactions. I’m disabled and could not vote if CA didn’t have mail-in ballots. It’s time to adjust to people’s needs. We haven’t had a higher turnout than 67% since 1900.
@7ede54aa @134318c2 @3896693a @0145c0c5 I think Biden/Dems caved too quickly on the pro-voting agenda, when it became clear they didn’t have the votes. It would have been better to tie up Senate business and make it a topic of insider conversation until it filtered out to the general public. People facing barriers to voting need to see high-profile Democrats send _expensive_ signals that they care about this stuff. It’s OK to lose a vote when seeing you try it unites your coalition and energizes activists. The right understands this. I suppose there’s no reason they can’t try again. Biden is speaking in public about “democracy”, so maybe it is going to happen.