Manifolds, Manolos, and Manure
I’ve worked in some aspect of government or government relations since college. First as a legislative intern. Followed by a legislative staff intern. Legislative staff. Political staff. Communications staff. And so on.
My blue-eyed girl will happily tell you that knowing about and participating in government is mandatory in our house. That her mom doesn’t care who you vote for as long as you vote. And that her farmer father is told loudly and routinely that no complaints will be listened to unless he votes each and every election. And to silence his wife, he votes in each and every election.
In junior high school civics, my blue-eyed girl was informed that under no circumstances would her mother accept any grade less than an A. That knowing and appreciating the different levels of government was mandatory. That memorization of the U.S. Constitutional Amendments could easily be accomplished through good old-fashioned flashcards. And that she was welcome to borrow her mother’s tattered copy of the 1970 Illinois Constitution Annotated for Legislators provided that it was returned in the same condition in which it was borrowed. Tattered but well appreciated. Needless to say, she never took me up on the last one. However, that tattered beauty has graced many family dinners when a question or friendly disagreement arises.
Earlier this summer, a friend of my blue-eyed girl informed me that she failed freshman civics. But no need to worry because she was able to retake the class during “credit recovery” this summer. I believe that’s a new name for summer school.
Unsurprisingly, I was unimpressed. Flabbergasted. And irate. Her lackadaisical attitude about the crazy experiment we call democracy left me wondering about others’ attitudes about democracy. About people’s attitudes about voting.
According to the Pew Research Center, voter turnout was the highest in recent decades in the 2018, 2020, and 2022 elections. Sixty-six percent of voting-aged adults turned out for the 2020 presidential election – the highest turnout rate since 1900. Even though the 2018 election was a midterm election, 49 percent of voters turned out, the highest midterm election turnout rate since 1914. Even turnout for the 2022 election, another midterm election, was record-breaking with a turnout rate of 46 percent, the highest since 1970.
What turnout rates of 66 percent, 49 percent, 46 percent, and on down tells us is that many voters are inconsistent. Voters vote intermittently. Given how close recent elections have been, it’s these intermittent voters that often decide the outcome of the election. Your vote decides the outcome of the election. Your vote.