Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
A Why Tuesday? reader passed along the news that the Virginia State Board of Elections approved a request from the VA Republican party to have “all who apply for a GOP primary ballot first vow in writing that they’ll vote for the party’s presidential nominee next fall.” Weird, right?
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Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Potomac News reported the most unfortunate of election news this past Saturday. More than 40 years after the Voting Rights Act, which was re-signed by George W. Bush in 2006, America is still plagued by blatant racism at the polls.
Keith Walker reports that a group of unidentified residents of Gainesville in Prince William County, Virginia’s third largest jurisdiction, armed themselves with a camera as they yelled at Hispanic voters who showed up to vote. (more…)
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
Yesterday we launched our Candidate Challenge from Colonial Willaimsburg, Virginia. When we were there shooting, I got to spend some time picking the brain of our nation’s third president about the state of voting in America. But most of the interview didn’t make it into the final cut.
We’ve teamed up with Rocketboom, the New York Times of the video blog world, to bring you this special report: my interview with Thomas Jefferson in its entirety. Enjoy.
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
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Welcome! Today we’re launching our Candidate Challenge, inviting you to become a WT? correspondent, and unveiling our new website and vlog! Watch the video to find our more, and sign up at the top of the page to stay involved. |
Monday, November 20th, 2006
The dust is settling, and all speculation is about the impact of this year’s election on national and foreign policy. If you’re reading this blog you’ve probably read a lot about this year’s elections already: about your own local or state contests and the national issues that galvanized the voter base.
Without being unduly negative, it seems like a good idea to attach some numbers to the adjectival discussion of this momentous midterm. The most straightforward one is this: according to the non-partisan Center for the Study of the American Electorate (CSAE), national turnout was around 83 million this year, or 40.4% of the population. There are some interesting details: despite strong/record turnout in states like Virginia and Tennessee, not all states with hot races saw turnout bumps- Maryland, Minnesota, and Florida all reported drop-offs, despite each having competitive races. Click here to read the full report.
It’s also interesting to see what effect Montana’s experiment with EDR had. Despite causing some delays, it seems to have run very smoothly. Did it increase turnout? A look at the CSAE’s numbers casts some doubt. Montana’s turnout in 2002 (the last mid-term election) was 48.02%, compared to 55.58% in this year’s election. That’s a healthy jump of 7.56%, compared to a 0.7% increase nationally. BUT, if we compare Montana to seven other states with races that were either tight or widely publicized (Connecticut, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia), we see that they on average enjoyed a 6.55% increase in participation. Amongst that pack, then, it’s not clear that EDR had a dramatic effect.
Which isn’t to say that it’s not a good idea: even a small impact is good, so long as the integrity of the process isn’t compromised, as is any measure that makes voting more convenient for those who fulfill their civic responsibility.
What seems most important to us is to remember- amidst all the comparative values- that the numbers we’re dealing with are still very low. A look at the CSAE’s report shows that, even in states celebrating record turnout, we’re dealing with participation in the low 40- and 50-percent range. Even if one takes the higher numbers offered by political campaigns and various state offices you’re still in the same ballpark.
Bottom line: there’s still work to do. And there’s a big election in a couple of years. So we’re gonna keep on asking why, and trying to figure out how to get as many citizens into the voting booths as possible.
Why Tuesday? is an effort to make America’s democracy stronger through increased voter participation. We work to make election reform an issue that our politicians cannot afford to avoid.
