A recent article on IVN is argues that Low Voter Turnout Highlights Need for Primary Reform. I don’t believe this. If people really wanted to vote in a primary, they’d join a party.
The real reason for voter apathy is that things seem to drift on no matter who’s in Congress. Our opinions don’t make much of a difference.
If you’re largely aligned with Democrats or Republicans, your vote matters a little. It still often doesn’t matter, because most areas always go one way or the other. How much does it matter which Democrat or which Republican is in office?
And for some, both parties are lousy choices. Centrists want compromises, not one party to dominate. Even most party members don’t support their entire party platform, and want things the party platform doesn’t even mention.
But people DO have positions on some issues, so let’s let them vote on issues. If we all vote on issues, such as on PeopleCount.org, our reps could represent The People instead of the parties. If people can say what’s important to them in a way that’s counted, their opinion would matter and, unlike today, they’d have a reason to be informed.
And if citizens can also see what we all want, we can evaluate whether a representative is delivering that and keep voting out politicians until they elect someone who will represent them.
PeopleCount.org will also be an accountability system, rewarding leaders for communicating, “accounting” for what they’ve done. Challengers will use it as well so elections can be inexpensive and give us real choice. Knowing what we all want and having an accountability system is what will enable people to hold politicians accountable. Knowing what people want, and being able to mine that data for compromises, congress will be able to legislate with confidence and government can be responsive. With inexpensive elections, representatives won’t need to spend time fundraising and money will have much less importance in elections.
Yes, this is a bit simplistic, but it’s the basic recipe for empowering and rewarding citizens to participate in government. It’s a way for all of us to communicate about what we want for our future and actually make it happen.
Why citizens are apathetic is because to most people, the candidates don’t matter much. If they did, more citizens would vote. Let’s have candidates compete to serve the people, instead of serving the parties and special interests. Let’s make their people count.