For many millennials, voting is a civil right not often exercised. While previous generations fought and bled for the right to vote, not all millennials take civic engagement seriously. Some members of older generations may blame this apathy toward voting on millennial passivity and disrespect for civic values. However, this view forgets that older generations were taught the value of civic duties, like voting, through civics education. In 2011, the New York Times reported that fewer than half of the nation’s eighth graders knew the purpose of the Bill of Rights. Only one-quarter of high school seniors could name a power granted to Congress by the Constitution. These numbers disgrace the world’s longest-standing constitutional democracy, and present a dire threat: adults who vote ignorantly—or worse, not at all.
In 2014, this lack of civic awareness contributed to a 72-year low in midterm election voter turnout, at 37 percent. Millennials’ trust in government has also plummeted, with no public institution earning more than half of their support. Due in large part to the lack of civics courses in high schools, people remain unaware of the powers they hold as citizens of the United States, making them believe they lack the ability to incur change. As a result, the people fail to participate in the government. This cultivates a national passivity towards voting that trickles down to the local elections that matter most.
In the 2016 presidential election, voter turnout hit a 20-year low, with just over half of eligible citizens casting their ballot. Among democratic members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the average voter turnout is 70 percent. For a country that celebrates its duty to “make the world safe for democracy,” the lack of participation in our own democracy is laughable.
The most common misconception is that one’s vote no longer matters. Of course, one vote rarely decides an election. However, the disbelief in the power of the individual voter results in a snowball effect, leading to elections being decided by the 40 percent whose views are extreme enough to entice them to vote.
The most dangerous effect of low voter turnout occurs in local elections. Every four years, much is made of low voter turnout in national elections, with presidential elections garnering the highest participation. Pundits bemoan 55 percent turnout in presidential elections, but a Los Angeles election in March yielded roughly 12 percent voter turnout. A Los Angeles Tribune article on the results opened by noting, “Voter turnout for Los Angeles’ elections was pushing up slightly this evening.” Across the United States, local elections routinely turn out, on average, 20 percent of the voting population. However, in the local elections, single votes matter much more, not only because there are fewer constituents, but also because most of the decisions that affect citizens directly are made at the local level. State and local governments control roads, hospitals, and, perhaps most importantly, education. The institutions led by state and local governments form the foundation of our society, and most citizens have a tangible stake in their management.
Take schools, for example. While most Americans cannot agree on how to fix the education system, they can agree that it is broken. The education system has not only the potential but the responsibility to make our children smarter, kinder, and more community-focused citizens by demonstrating that it takes a village to raise a child. Like any issue, though, the first step to fixing this system is getting people to vote in the elections that decide who lead it. San Francisco, in keeping with this principle, will become in 2018 the first city to allow non-citizens to vote, namely for the positions on the school board because “we need to ensure that all our parents are engaged in the governance and futures of our schools,” as San Francisco’s representative in the state Assembly, David Chiu, put it. As it stands, this law would enfranchise about a third of parents who are currently not allowed to vote in the San Francisco school system, which is very important. Parents will be able to call for what they think their children need, be it less testing time, more focus on STEM fields, or simply a longer recess. Through widespread voter participation, elected officials will be beholden to their constituents’ wishes, knowing that they will be voted out of office next cycle if they do not. Unless a majority determines the people and values that shape our children’s education, the public education system will fail to receive the focus it needs to offer substantive improvement to the way we educate our children.
The lack of voter engagement at the local level raises the need for a significant increase in civics education. One path towards a more educated electorate involves a required civics test for high schoolers, similar to the one immigrants must take to become naturalized citizens. A foundational civics course that prepares students for this test would teach students their rights and duties as American citizens. If implemented across the country, this civics education would offer the particularly favorable benefit of ensuring that all citizens share this knowledge of the government and civic duty.
However, without increased civics education, people will most likely continue to operate under the false assumption that true change happens primarily at the national level. Local grassroots movements on both sides of the aisle are the ones that effect real change by turning our towns, states, and, eventually, our Congress into a representation of ourselves. In order for the United States to truly be a nation by the people, for the people, and of the people, America needs greater voter participation at the local level.
Image Credit: Dwight Burdette/ Wikimedia Commons