Election Day has come and gone, but where were the voters? That is what the Bush administration is asking after the Republicans lost control of the Senate and House.
President Bush said in a press conference, "If you look at race by race, it was close. The cumulative effect, however, was not too close. It was a thumping."
Races throughout the U.S. ran neck to neck where one vote could have possibly made a difference. The U.S. statistically has had lower voter turnout than many other countries. In the 2004 election, only 55.3 percent of the country voted. During the mid term election that number dropped about 37 percent. In Iraq, the voter turnout was about 70 percent in 2005, which was the first time elections were held. In the first recorded elections held in the U.S. in 1828, about 57.6 percent of the people voted.
Larry Paige of Chicago said, "I don't understand why people don't vote. If they only knew how important it was."
There has been much debate why voter turnout has been low. In a essay by Leila Rouhi from Los Angeles, she said U.S. voters are often told every vote counts. But it is a false premise in today's system because many of our votes count for nothing at all, which is a reason many people stay home.
Roosevelt student Roger May said, "People just don't care anymore. Bad campaign ads and the scandals that have occurred, who really wants to vote?"
RU student Mary Harris said, "People stopped voting a long time ago because they forgot how much of an importance and privilege it is."
Statistics show that voting in the U.S. was at its peak in 1876 at about 81.8 percent. During this time, the U.S. was in the Reconstruction phase that attempted to settle the effects of the American Civil War. The Reconstruction era in the U.S. tried to reunite a nation separated by slavery and power. People voted in record numbers because of the friction that existed between the North and the South.
What is a solution to increase voter turnout that doesn't involve a civil war? In Spain, Election Day is considered a national holiday, which everyone has the day off. The voter turnout in Spain in the 2004 election was 75.7 percent. The lowest voter turnout recorded in Spain was about 68.1 percent during the 1979 elections.
"If election night was a paid holiday or on a weekend, voter turnout would be much higher, said Maria Hernández of Chicago.
Elections have been held on Tuesdays because it allowed voters to travel to their polling place. November was chosen because it was before winter, which made roads easier to travel on and because the harvesting of crops was normally completed by this time. ?"Election Day shouldn't be held on the first Tuesday of November," Wendy Taylor of Chicago said. "They should be on a weekend when people have days off."
Mark Osterloh, an Arizona physician and attorney, wants to take it a step further. He wants everyone who votes in Arizona to automatically be entered in a lottery for $1 million.
"Who do you know that doesn't want to be an millionaire?" Osterloh said in a interview with Toronto Star. "People tell me, 'Darn right, I'll start voting for that.'"
A new digital system, designed to prevent another disastrous event that occurred in the 2000 election, was used at the polling center, Haas Park, 2402 N. Washtenaw, the 24th Precinct Ward. The voters used the ballot scanner instead of the touch screen voting unit and at the end of the day, only 319 out of 687 registered voters cast ballots--that comes out to about 46.4 percent. Those voters, on a micro scale, represented what the election was in the U.S. About 40 percent voted in the U.S. elections, which roughly is similar to the polling place statistics.
The elections could have gone either way and there are many protests and debates throughout the U.S. that seek changes to improve society.
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