Vote On Community Issues example essay topic

As executive director responsible for dealing with voter turnout it has become my solemn duty to address this issue and to come up with ways which I can greatly improve the outcome. I started out by first debating about why the turnout rate is so low, and have come to the realization that the problem is rooted in both the political parties and the citizens. Citizen's attitudes have always played a large roll in the turnout rate, as well as the attitudes amongst the party platforms, thus having a negative effect on voter turnout over time. However, I have found that there are several ways which reforms may improve voter turnout, which include: a national voting day that is pre-set and agreed by the government, a mail-in voting form, and the most important, the rebirth of involvement between parties. I believe that the best way however, is to not necessarily to just focus on increasing the total number going to the polls, but to focus on why voting is so important, which can be said is because it is our solemn duty as citizens to vote. When thinking about why voter turnout was so slow, it makes sense that it can only be blamed on two subjects, either the citizens, or with the government (more specifically the political parties).

I believe however, that the blame is not solely based on just one of these groups, but that both share the responsibility. When looking back on the early nineteenth century, one can see the importance of political involvement. Granted corruption had plagued the polls, causing many areas of the country to produce false statistics on turnout in hopes to cover up for these scandals, but the practice of more involvement from the platforms was a novel idea. The cause for more involvement was that during this era political party organizations were much stronger as a party system, and more resolute about helping voter turnout. They would take time to help organize people and made sure that many paid a visit to the polls on election day.

This enthusiasm and commitment has long become extinguished since then. I believe much of the die ing out of involvement from parties has to deal with the steady decline of parties themselves over the years. Those who now vote during elections tend to base their views more so on the candidate rather than the party, which leads us into the second part about lower voter turnout dealing with citizens. Those citizens who make it to the polls and let their voices be heard should be lauded. As for those who didn't vote, should they be scorned and neglected? Of course not, but rather they need to be further assessed as to why they were unable, or didn't care to vote.

So many reasons come into play for this, some of the smaller ones include health, the arduous task of registering and voter fatigue, and the day in which elections are held, but amongst these the more important factors lie from education and what is known as Rational Disengagement. Referring back, health could play a small part because poor health becomes a malefactor that inhibits their ability to go out and participate in day to day activities. Continuing on, another issue is the fact that there are so many different voting opportunities among the local, state, and national levels. By having so many of these different availabilities to vote, it begins to pose as a problem of its own. You have to vote for your governor, state senate, vote on community issues, state funding problems, school based, and so many more occasions arise, that it becomes overwhelming. As people vote continuously it begins to cause fatigue, which in turn makes citizens less inclined to want to further participate in any other political based activities.

Another problem is in the fact that election day is held during the middle of the week. With this being the case, many people find that going to the polls relies strictly on whenever you can find time, however, many people find they do have time to vote, but simply turn down the opportunity. I call it an opportunity because being able to vote is the single most direct way of having your views heard and looked after. This view is not understood by everyone though, because many simply don't see voting as an opportunity.

This can best be described by Erikson's and Tedkin's Rational Disengagement. Erikson and Tedkin go on to describe Rational Disengagement as the theory that, "One person's vote is useless because it is fantasy to assume that a single vote can decide and election's outcome except in the most extraordinary circumstances. ' While it is true that one vote may not add up to much, multiplying that one vote by 10,000 other persons "single vote", or even 100,000 persons "single vote", becomes a way to impact the outcome of an election. Aside from this interpretation of why voter turnout is low, another is the fact that education is one of the most vital factors into the turnout of voters.

Having an education further develops our opinions, ideals, and beliefs, as well as dividing the amount of success of people have within our nation. We all know that those who go to college are given a distinct advantage later on in life. But what many may not know is that going to college instinctively increases voter turnout. Someone who goes to college is expected to gain an array of knowledge, and with this knowledge, is expected to use it in return, which is exactly what happens. Out of all the students that either attended a college, or are attending college, 81% of them turned out to vote, compared to only 57.5% of the students who just attended high or some sort of grade school. Another fact is that out of everyone who is employed 64% of them turned out to vote, compared to only 46% of the unemployed.

This shows that having an education gives people a better understanding as to the opportunity at hand involved with voting. Now that we " ve discussed reasons for low voter turnout, I will address several solutions to these problems; one of which is to institute a federal and national holiday for voting. One day would be selected and issued by the current government and be declared the official "Election Day". On this day all businesses would either be closed, or forced to permit to employees to go to local polls to vote. Working alongside with this national voting day, federal funding would be used to provide and care for services of transportation to those who are unable to get around on their own.

The services would include bus transportation that would run routes to designated areas (indicated by large fluorescent signs), and back to the polls at the top of every hour. Another service would include a personal taxiing service free of charge. The taxiing service would be run by local taxiing businesses or communities, and the charges would be used for tax write-offs at the end of the year, rather than having the cabbies and companies accept cash for payment. Of course there will be some problems with this. The cabbies or transporters would moree than likely want something a little more tangible for their long day's work of driving around, rather than take a tax write-off, while others would even prefer to work than "waste" their time to go vote. Other people would possibly rather use the day off as an excuse to catch up on some long overdue "my time".

This is when a third reform comes into play, which is an issuing of nationwide allowance of absentee ballots. In order for this to work effectively, the operation would be comprised of separate committees set up in states. Their location would be determined by population density in each of the separate states, and according to state size. For example, since the state of California is much vaster than New Jersey, and would require many more committees than New Jersey, extra committees would be allotted to the state. After a committee's designation to the state, each would evaluate several city locations and set-up base in accordance for the most efficient way of issuing the ballots. After set-up, a mail-in questionnaire would be strategically placed, advertised, and issued in the more highly concentrated areas of traffic throughout the state.

The questionnaire would involve asking the person how many absentee ballots they would like for their household (with a max limit of 3 to prevent pranksters of asking for ludicrous amounts), and where the ballots should be shipped to. This way, someone could take the questionnaire home, send it in via mail, receive a ballot via mail, fill out the ballot and send it back in on their own leisure time without ever having to wait in long lines, or waste their precious work time. However, when thinking about this reform I found that another problem surfaced. How would the homeless, hospitalized, or even, those who are unable or refuse to fill out a form, go vote? It is to my understanding that just by implementing these reforms; not all problems will be solved, but by implementing these reforms there is a healthier possibility towards increasing voter turnout. The one last reform that I feel needs to be revived, and could possibly help inspire the "voting is a waste of time" crowd, is to have more party involvement.

As I stated earlier regarding the nineteenth century parties, they were enthusiastic and could often be seen running amok gathering herds of people to go vote. However, having a steady decline of parties over the years the candidates have been left out there to do much of the campaigning themselves. With this being the case, candidates find themselves on a tight schedule and only available to talk, debate, or campaign where they see absolutely vital. This leaves them with little if not any time at all to go get people to vote, which leaves it up to the willpower and notion of the sovereign to want to vote. There is a solution to this though, and can be accomplished by having the party platforms that support each candidate take responsibility to get involved with the campaign process and speak to communities about the necessity of voting and the benefits from it. To sum it up, parties need to serve as the spark that lights the fuse to the revolution of voter turnout, and until this happens the likelihood of increased voter turnout in vast proportions is unlikely to happen.

Growing up I always asked myself why anyone would ever want to vote. But in order to answer this question one must understand what is at stake. When someone declares himself or herself a "citizen", they can consider themselves no more a "citizen" than an immigrant from Peru. The reason why I state this is because I hold different beliefs as to what it really takes in becoming a true citizen. There is much more involved into becoming a citizen, rather than owning a piece of real estate. When being a citizen, you need to exercise your rights and voice your opinion in the best ways possible.

And what better way is there than to vote? Voting is the single most influential mode any single person living in the United States will ever have. But it is not the sensation of being able to vote, it is the journey up until that point in time when you vote that really matters. Just by involving yourself in the voting process, you begin to educate yourself. You begin to learn the ways in which the law works, the ways the political parties operate, and how everything ties together. You learn the impact media has on the influences on public opinions and views.

You learn how the mannerisms of presidents and running candidates can make or break a speech and their entire campaign. You learn about how the running candidates pour their money, hearts and souls into the whole campaign process, and being to appreciate what they " ve gone through as you see the two argue their sides on TV. To summarize it all, I believe that citizenship can be found within the mastery of 4 principles: knowledge, core value, involvement, community. With a steady understanding of these principles, you have done all that a true citizen could be asked to do. The first of the four is being able to know yourself by being able to realize what is important to you, what you need from the government and from society. Having knowledge about yourself and your views will best prepare you for being able to understand what you desire out of politicians.

Core value relates to the political cultural ways while taking the knowledge about yourself and relating it back to society. With solid knowledge and core value foundations you have set yourself up for the next step, involvement. Knowledge and core value are worthless without the use of involvement, because having an understanding about your beliefs and your desires from society allows you to make a difference and involve yourself. One way to involve yourself has been the whole topic of this discussion... voting. Whether it is for voting on local issues, state issues or even nationwide issues, you need to vote, which leads us to the final principle, community. Community means it is your civic duty to share your entire experience with others, so that they might benefit from it.

All the values are intertwined and are a sequential feed off from one another. Once you actively use one principle, you must move on, until you have gone through them all and shared your experience. After assessing why voter turnout is so low, and comparing it to our society, I believe James W. Cease best describes why our society is what it is today when he states, "In the final analysis, there is an inevitable tension between the freedom to participate and the goal of equality understood as each person's preferences counting exactly as much as another's. It is undeniable that some begin with money, or civic skills; in addition, some people simply want to participate more than others. ' Even with this said there is still time to get up and make a difference, establish who we are, and become true citizens by starting with our most basic Constitutional privilege, the right to vote..