Story last updated at
2:21 PM on
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Being informed voter takes work
Editorial
As they prepare to elect a president and vice president, fill a U.S. Senate and House seat, choose representatives for the State House and Senate and decide four ballot measures, Alaska voters have plenty to ponder between now and Election Day on Nov. 2.
Two recent studies from the Cato Institute, a nonprofit public policy research foundation headquartered in Washington, D.C., provide additional food for thought during this contentious election season. One study by John Samples examines myths of voter turnout in the United States; the other by Ilya Somnin looks at how voters' ignorance threatens democracy. Some highlights from both studies:
Americans have made it an election-year ritual to wring their hands over low voter turnout, but voter turnout is not steadily declining, Samples says. While turnout is lower than it was in the 1960s, most of the decline happened between 1968 and 1974. Part of the reason for the decline is because "the number of Americans actually eligible to vote has become progressively smaller than the number of Americans of voting age," he notes.
While Americans love to hate election season mud-slinging, negative ads do not translate into lower voter turnout. In fact, Samples' study leads him to conclude: "Negative advertising does not harm American democracy or its political culture. If negative ads did not exist fewer people might well turn out to vote."
If democracy demands an informed electorate, the United States is in big trouble. In his study, Somnin reviewed "the overwhelming evidence that the Ameri-can electorate fails to meet even minimal criteria for adequate voter knowledge."
That lack of knowledge is not a moral failing, Somnin says. In fact, he shifts the focus from how little voters know to how much government there is for them to know about. "The greater the size and scope of government, the more voters have to know to control its policies through the ballot," he writes. He suggests reform is best rooted in reducing "the amount of knowledge required for democratic control of public policy."
What does all this mean to Homer voters? Some thoughts:
Those negative ads have a silver lining. The experts say they help voters discriminate between candidates and may provide the catalyst for voters to learn more.
Americans' lack of political knowledge may be one of the best signals available that government has grown too complex and cumbersome. Without it becoming a full-time job, it's nearly impossible for voters to know how they can affect meaningful change through the ballot. One of the ways to help take some of the mystery and complexity out of government is for voters to insist that the public's business be conducted in the open.
In today's Homer News, readers will find interviews with candidates for the Senate District R seat and the House District 35 seat, as well as opinion pieces from the candidates. The goal of all that information is to make readers better informed voters.
Armed with that information, citizens should exercise their right to make a difference by voting Nov. 2.
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