Reflection #4: Voting

Reading blog posts from both World Politics groups really got me thinking about the way in which our nations holds elections. I think that one of the most frustrating things that I started to think about was the idea that our elections are set up in a way that doesn't really support voting. Think about it, the government has yet to make Election Day a national holiday. Now for a moment, think of the number of people who are not able to get to the polling station because they have work for the majority of time the polls are open. Or how about the person who doesn’t have the means to get to the polling station which is located all the way across town because they’re taking care of their child. There are dozens of cases like these that create a situation where an individual is unable to vote. It may not be that these people are ignorant or don’t care about exercising their right to vote, perhaps the real issue is that they simply can’t. I really think that if we wanted to improve the voter turn out, we should make Election Day a national holiday so that all people have equal opportunity to vote.

Another issue that was brought up was the issue of lack of education when it comes to voting. I think that something that’s worth trying when it comes to remedying this issue is the idea that local media should increase their coverage of what’s actually going on in the state/city politically. It seems that now the local media talks mostly about crime, large issue politics and puff pieces. I think that a greater emphasis should be placed on not only the large issues in politics but also on the smaller issues so that come election time voters are more educated not only about the candidates but about the issues that they’re taking a stance on.

Overall, there are many issues with the voting system in the United States but I really believe that if we wanted the way voting takes place in America to be equal, we could make it so. The real issue is whether we want to or not.