To vote or not to vote that is the question...

The aspect of U.S. Government I’ve decided to write my commentary about is voting. I figured that this was a fitting subject since this is a presidential election year. The textbook, We the People, offered a lot of information about the history of voting and its processes. Some processes many of us find confusing. Like the whole vote and the come back later and caucus deal that went on during the primaries. Suffrage, which is the right to vote, has been subject to many changes over the years. At first it was only extend to property-owning males, then to property less men, soon after women were allowed to vote and ultimately African Americans were granted the right to vote.

This year I almost did not vote because I failed to keep up with registration deadlines. This is part of the reason the text states contributes to low voter turnout in the U.S. Other reasons listed are the frequency of elections, ballot counting procedures and the fact that there is no clear cut difference between the political parties. In regards to ballot counting the text recounted the events surrounding the 2000 elections, which I find discouraging. The text states that although over one hundred million votes were officially recorded being cast for president; more than two million other votes were cast but not counted. Why were they not counted? They were spoiled for some reason or another. Because of situations like this, I believe that the Government needs to invest in adequate machinery for all areas so that every single vote is being counted.

According to the text young adults are less likely to vote than middle-aged citizens or senior citizens. Citizens under thirty have the lowest turnout rate of any major demographic group. This by the way is the demographic group I belong to. However, I vote because I care about the issues at hand and how they affect my children and I. The text goes on to talk about the media and the role they play in the whole process. They mention MTV and their effort to reach out to those under thirty and urge them to go out and vote. I actually think that it is a clever concept and MTV’s political coverage is quite interesting. I watch their programming and find it nice to see them use people I can relate to.

Well I close my blog with this… Get out and vote.