The last two consecutive local election were high stakes (one for control of the HSE school board; and the other for control of the Fishers City Council and a funding referendum for the HSE School district). Despite the stakes, the voter turnout was embarrassingly low. 

For clarification, the number of registered voters is thought to be between 70 and 80 percent of eligible voters so I picked 75% as the percentage. The numbers were no more or less disappointing when picking a 70% or 80% number.

Voter turnout rates are always lower during non-Presidential elections, but even Presidential elections do not turnout great numbers. The United States Elections Project reported the following registered voter turnout rates:

2020 – 66.8% (Joe Biden v Donald Trump)

2016 – 61.4% (Donald Trump v Hillary Clinton)

2012 – 58.6% (Barack Obama v Mitt Romney)

2008 – 62.2% (Barack Obama v John McCain)

2004 – 60.7% (George W Bush v John Kerry)

2000 – 55.3% (George W Bush v Al Gore)

1996 – 54.2% (Bill Clinton v Bob Dole)

1992 – 61.3% (Bill Clinton v George H. W. Bush)

1988 – 57.4% (George H. W. Bush v Michael Dukakis)

1984 – 61.9% (Ronald Reagan v Walter Mondale)

Lower voter turnout matters! The problem with low voter turnout rates is that the election outcomes reflect the most motivated (extreme) voters versus the will of the people. Also, it is impossible to have a voter mandate when election winners receive such small percentages of eligible voters. 

The Framers Feared Small Voting Blocks!

The problem was low voter turnout was addressed by our framers in the debates over our Constitution. Normally, the most motivated voters are single-issue driven or what the framers referred to as “factions”. In Federalist #10 written by James Madison, he defined factions, “By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” Madison later wrote that there were only two ways to control factions, “There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the
other, by controlling its effects. There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.” Neither option appealed to Madison as each would destroy the democratic ideals of the new nation. He offered that to control factions in a republic, “Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other. Besides other impediments, it may be remarked that, where there is a consciousness of unjust or dishonorable purposes, communication is always checked by distrust in proportion to the number whose concurrence is necessary.” In short, Madison said small factions would be controlled by large groups with competing opinions to negate smaller factional voices. However, Madison’s ideas would require that the MAJORITY would be there to control factions. 

In my humble opinion, low voter turnout eliminates the check that Madison envisioned and then our republic is dominated by unjust factions.

Top 10 states with the highest voter turnout rates based on the data from the 2020 presidential election.

  1. Minnesota – 79.96%
  2. Maine – 77.97% (State motto is Dirigo Latin for “I lead“)
  3. Iowa – 76.42%
  4. Wisconsin – 74.96%
  5. New Hampshire – 74.76%
  6. Colorado – 74.50%
  7. Massachusetts – 73.94%
  8. Nebraska – 73.15%
  9. Oregon – 72.74%
  10. Montana – 71.77%

Minnesota has had the highest voter turnout rate in the country for several recent election cycles. So I looked at the reasons why:

  1. Strong Civic Culture – Minnesota has a long history of civic participation and voter mobilization. High school students are encouraged to pre-register to vote as soon as they turn 18. This culture stresses the importance of voting.
  2. No Excuse Absentee Voting – Minnesota allows “no excuse” absentee/mail-in voting, meaning any registered voter can request and cast an absentee ballot without having to provide a verified reason. This makes voting more convenient.
  3. Same Day Registration – Minnesota also permits same-day registration which allows unregistered eligible residents to go to the polls on Election Day, register on the spot, and vote. This greatly expands voter access.
  4. High Voter Awareness – Minnesota generally sees an engaged, politically aware populace. There are robust efforts from government, political parties, interest groups and schools to conduct voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote campaigns.

In addition, Minnesota has added a civics test (50 questions sourced from the INS test) that high school students must pass to graduate. Also, Minnesota has added a high school civics course to their mandatory high school classes. 

Our Country Has a Voter Education Problem

National Association of Educational Progress “report card” that showed the proficiency rate for civics among high school students has dropped from 24% to 22%. As bad as that proficiency rate is for civics; history proficiency is even worse at 13%. There is a cost to the lack of civic and history knowledge and that cost is dangerous. 

I used to tell my Weoples (We the People students) that fake news only really fools the uneducated mind. One of the strengths of a liberal education is the ability to bounce information off an educated sub-schema. The greatest importance of civic and historical knowledge is to prevent demagogues from rising. The framers were frightened of the rise of a demagogue. 

During the convention, Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts said “demagogues are the great pests of our government and have occasioned most of our distresses.” He also called them “pretended patriots,” unprincipled politicians who steer the people toward “baneful measures” through “false reports.“

James Madison of Virginia twice alluded to “the danger of demagogues.” Alexander Hamilton of New York spoke of this peril of democracy more than any other delegate, naming it seven times. Demagogues, Hamilton said on the floor of Independence Hall in late June 1787, “hate the controul of the Genl. Government.” Further, Hamilton wrote that republics went from demagoguery to tyranny. He wrote in Federalist No. 1: “History will teach us that…of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.”

What is the Cure?

My world is too small to cure the nation of its ills. However, I believe in the “starfish analogy.” Obviously, my experiences color my recommendation. It starts with education. Dr. Diana Owen from Georgetown University has done extensive work on the impact of high-quality civics education on the knowledge of students. She has written extensively on the impact of James Madison Legacy Project and the We the People program and the positive impact of both programs on civic knowledge and, just as importantly, and involvement. I have seen first-hand the short and long-term impact of the We the People program on students. I would start with the following:

  1. Adopt the We the People program at the 5th and 8th grade level for all schools.  Expand the current We the People curriculum to include US History benchmarks with a goal final goal of an in-house or state competition. 
    • Provide lesson plans and curriculum maps for the program to ease the transition.
    • Create a state-cadre of teachers to provide in-house or regional professional development to help ease the transition.
    • Encourage districts to send teachers to the summer We the People institute for additional exposure and training.
    • Offer a stipend for the teaching of and participation in an in-house or regional competition.
  2. When I was judging at the We the People central region, one of the Indiana Bar Foundation board members talked about what they were doing to increase the We the People program in Indiana. One of the proposals was to start recognizing schools as “Civic Schools”. I think this is a great idea. I would like to see the program expanded to recognize “Civic School Districts”. 
  3. In fall of 2022 and spring of 2023, I taught three adult We the People classes; two based on the We the People curriculum and the other on Women’s History. It was a lot of fun for me and I loved the conversations. I would love to see city governments offer civic classes taught by local teachers. The civic classes can be tailored in length (narrow one-night programs in the model of a podcast) to longer programs that can be combine with an understanding of city government.

Books

I finished reading Timothy Egan’s A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them and I cannot recommend this book enough. There are real heroes in this story.

I am currently finishing Heather Cox Richardson’s How the South won the Civil War. The book is not long, but it is dense and I find myself highlighting constantly and sharing passages with friends.