The votes are in, and the real winner locally was… “ainokea”. Yes, the “who cares?” attitude prevailed once again in our August primary election as about 60% of registered voters opted not to vote. And that number doesn’t include those who could have voted, but didn’t even bother to register. One can extrapolate that the actual number of those 18+ year-old voters eligible to vote who did actually vote might be in the 30-35% range.
Theories abound as to why people don’t vote, but it sure was easy this time. The election was on a Saturday, and most people could simply mail back completed ballots they’d received in the weeks preceding August 13.
While some remain unenthused about taking time out from hectic schedules to vote on November’s Tuesday general election day (hint to decision-makers: make all elections end on a Saturday), registering to vote and then not even scratching in some boxes on a ballot and putting it back your own mailbox is a head scratcher.
Some may worry about possible voter fraud, notwithstanding the facts confirming no widespread fraud being found (again) during the 2020 election in state after state, precinct after precinct, blue, red and everywhere in between. This is apparently the latest price we pay in a post-truth democracy. Genuine, sincere indifference amid rampant mistrust.
Granted, some local races were not scintillating. Sometimes dinner’s not scintillating, yet eat we must. Democracy is messy and negative campaigns abound (as they have in America for 240 years), but civics has sadly become just an afterthought for far too many, alongside empathy and respectful, listening skills.
A more vigorous two-party system locally might encourage more interest, quality choices, and action, but if ballots delivered on a silver platter (or via a white, red, and blue USPS truck) isn’t enough to encourage registered voters to set aside 15-minutes, you wonder what it will take.
In 2020, 70% of registered voters here voted, partly due to the national election reality show (contrived, like all reality shows) that titillated even jaded, habitual non-voters. Some folks nowadays want to make voting easier; others, more difficult. Most foreign democracies trounce us regularly in voter turnout. There’s more information available on issues and candidates than ever before; some of it is actually factual. So how do we turn this disillusionment, muck, and apathy around? Or must “ainokea” continue to win handily?
Think about it…