Voting Makes a Comeback: On the Importance of Registering Voters and Getting them to the Polls

Winning an election is not a mystery. You want more people who support your candidates and issues going to the polls than people who support other candidates and issues. Americans didn't seem to vote much in the last 40 years...but that is starting to change.

In the 2004 Presidential election, we returned to levels of voter participation not seen since the 1968 election between Nixon and Humphrey, where just over 60% of the eligible population turned out to vote.

According to federal records, only 70% of the eligible population is actually registered to vote, which means we need to reach out to that 30% of unregistered voters!

According to Dr. Michael McDonald of George Mason University, voter turnout in the United States has been largely misrepresented due to comparisons of votes to people of voting age; however, comparisons using numbers of eligible voters still demonstrate, in my opinion, that not enough Americans vote. One of the lowest voter turn outs in his records was 52% in the 1996 election between then President Clinton and Bob Dole.

Perhaps voter participation has not changed radically since 1972; we seem to hover around the 55% mark, as seen in McDonald's study of participation in presidential elections since 1948. Since 1948, the only time we hit 65% participation was in 1960 in the presidential race between Kennedy and Nixon! Between 1952 and 1968, voter participation remained above 60%.

An interest in changing the world did not retire with the baby boomers who broke through to a counter culture! Once again, people are getting involved in governance because they recognize that their voices matter, and they don't want to risk not casting a vote.

Your vote is your voice!

If we are to show the world just how much Americans care about democracy, we need to bring those 30% of unregistered voters into the fold!

In 2004, 62% of Pennsylvania's eligible voters participated in the election. In 2008, 32% of Pennsylvania's eligible voters participated in the April 22 Primary.

We need to make sure active voters get out and vote!

More people are interested in politics than have been since 1960! We have a great chance to show people that collectively they can and will make a difference.

Not sure where to start? In Pennsylvania, we can increase voter registrations by targeting women!!

A study of women in Pennsylvania in 1998 to 2000 indicated that only 62.3% of women are registered to vote. Of those, it seems that only 47.3% voted!

It was a stratgey in the 2004 election, and it is again in 2008, no matter who is the democratic nominee. If candidates want to win, they should make sure women are registered and getting out to vote.

More people are getting involved because they see how politics affect their day to day lives with gas prices, the cost of food, health care, joblessness, home financing, and, of course, the threat of losing more soldiers....

Declare yourself! Vote!