Instead of joining the defeatists (whatever percentage of the the 1/3 of eligible voters who don’t vote because “my vote doesn’t matter”), why not try and get them to vote. For the folks who don’t vote because they don’t like any of the candidates, just start turning in an empty ballot. Higher turnout leads to more representative government. Imagine if we suddenly had >90% turnout and 20% of the voters cast a ballot saying “all the candidates suck.” That would reported on so heavily there’s no way campaign strategies won’t change the next election cycle. More diverse candidates will run because “look at how many active voters want something different!” We’ve never tried that before and we can do it with literally no electoral reform needing to be passed.
Wow I hadn’t thought of that! Nobody’s ever suggested that to me and I definitely never canvassed a neighborhood, especially when I’d go with my parents as a kid over 30 years ago!
Instead of joining the defeatists (whatever percentage of the the 1/3 of eligible voters who don’t vote because “my vote doesn’t matter”), why not try and get them to vote. For the folks who don’t vote because they don’t like any of the candidates, just start turning in an empty ballot. Higher turnout leads to more representative government. Imagine if we suddenly had >90% turnout and 20% of the voters cast a ballot saying “all the candidates suck.” That would reported on so heavily there’s no way campaign strategies won’t change the next election cycle. More diverse candidates will run because “look at how many active voters want something different!” We’ve never tried that before and we can do it with literally no electoral reform needing to be passed.
Wow I hadn’t thought of that! Nobody’s ever suggested that to me and I definitely never canvassed a neighborhood, especially when I’d go with my parents as a kid over 30 years ago!
/s