Missing Votes

Where are all the voters at?  Oregon recently passed the deadline to vote in the Oregon primary election and the turnout was less than acceptable.  Oregon has the option to vote by mail, but still only manages to get only 46% percent of citizens to submit a ballot.  Where is the sense of democracy?  Democracy seems like smoke and mirrors when millions of voters are being suppressed by strict voting laws.  Minority and disenfranchised groups are intentionally discriminated against when it comes to voting and are often discouraged from voting because of the barriers in place.   

Why aren't people engaging in their civil rights?  One survey  found that there were four major reason why people don't vote, and the reasons are education, the process to register, a limited two-party system, and apathy or exhaustion with politics.  There are certainly many barriers that prevent people from even attempting to vote.  When I asked a few friends why they vote, and if they don't vote why don't they.  The responses I got were diverse.  A few middle-class, white, educated people had responses you would expect as if they were information regurgitated from a textbook.  The answers I was more surprised in was the reason they don't vote.  Reasons similar to the four main ones listed above.  One female friend said she doesn't vote because she never graduated high school and she prefers to leave major decisions to the educated.  I was happy to find out she did vote after we had that discussion and had sought support from a family member to better understand the voters pamphlet.  

There are so many Oregonians who are not voting, about 1,500,000 voters, who are not being heard.  These are students, employees, business owners, home owners, veterans, retirees, parents, of all races, all genders, all classes and so on, all affected by the laws and law makers on the ballots during voting time.  Without participating in the process, you have absolutely no say in who are what gets voted in.  But what I "lose"?  That is a valid question, but if you don't vote then you aren't contributing to the potential victory for the causes you stand for.  And, if you don't vote, you don't have much room to complain about the outcomes.  So next time there is a chance to vote, consider participating because your vote does matter.  If you are unsure of how to navigate the voting process, there are many online resources to register, understand ballots, getting engaged and more.