Why vote?

Voter turnout has plummeted in California, with the last general election prodding only about 40% of the electorate to the polls (or rather, to the mail box since half of all voters vote by mail).  Elections in Los Angeles, which seem to be scheduled at odd times, have a turnout of around 20%.  These numbers have sent experts scurrying for solution of how to boost voter turnout, proposing everything from increased civic education to making not voting illegal.

Everyone seems to agree on one thing—low voter turnout is an affront to Democracy, and every voter has a civic duty to express his or her opinion at the ballot box.  I would reply by quoting what the internet says is an old anarchist proverb: don’t vote, it only encourages them.  Congress has an approval rating of less than 10%, and every one of those idiots was elected by people who voted.

California now has a top two primary system where only the top two vote getters in the primary are on the ballot in state elections.  In national elections like for President all the party nominees are on the ballot, so in 2012 if I thought Barack Obama had been basically incompetent and Mitt Romney would cut services to the poor to give tax cuts to the super-wealthy, I could cast a vote for Roseanne Barr.  I did my civic duty.

However, the 2014 election in my congressional district was the site of one of the most expensive and vicious Congressional campaigns in history.  Democrat incumbent Ami Bera was seen as vulnerable in a district with a Republic edge in registration, so both parties poured in “independent” spending along with the candidate’s own spending.  The ads for both sides can be described succinctly: Republican Doug Ose said Ami Bera was a liar and a thief, and Ami Bera said Doug Ose was a liar and a thief.  That’s basically 80-90% of the messaging, and with all the money available in meant that, as the election approached, during commercial breaks often a Bera ad would be followed by an Ose ad, which would be followed by another Bera ad.  Or vice versa.

If anyone is looking for a reason for low voter turnout, let’s stop blaming the voters and start blaming the politicians.  Maybe voter turnout has to be driven down to as close to zero as possible before politicians start believing that running a campaign based on issues and positive advertising can win.  Maybe the only way voters can express their disgust at the choices offered to them is to stay away in droves.  As Yogi Berra reputedly said, “If people don’t want to come, you can’t stop them.”

If I were to take a pledge to never again vote except for a candidate who only ran a positive, issue-based campaign and to never again vote for any mud-slinging jackanape, it would mean not voting in most elections for the rest of my life.  But the Good Government people would call me names and say I was not doing my civic duty.  According to them, I have a moral obligation to vote for one of the two thieving liars on the ballot.

Nuts.  From now on I am only voting for candidates I actually support, who I actually want to win the election (well, unless one of the candidates is not just a jerk but so dangerous that an unintelligent boob is preferable).  In the political marketplace, one in which I don’t have nearly enough money to actually influence anything monetarily, the only coin I have is my vote, and I refuse to squander it on candidates whose idea of a campaign is to run commercials with unflattering photos of their opponent with vaguely worded accusations that fall JUST short of slander.

You want better voter turnout?  Get better candidates.  But don’t “Tsk, tsk” me for not voting for the least objectionable candidate.  They say if you don’t vote, you can complain about the result.  True, but it also means you aren't responsible for the mess caused by the politicians who WERE elected.