Young People's Participation in the Voting Process

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Every year the United States government spends billions of dollars to spread democratic ideals around the globe. At the same time, the citizens of this great country seem reluctant to share in their love of democracy, causing voter turnout levels to continue to decline. Like many actions of Americans, the desire to vote is one that needs to be taught at a young age. If potential voters start as soon as they are eligible, they are more likely to continue voting, as they grow older.

Thus, the key is to target young voters. It needs to be easier to vote for the first time, and the government also needs to send the message to young people that their vote matters. Both goals can be accomplished with a rather simple adjustment of the electoral system. With the implementation of election-day voter registration and a single transferable vote system, the United States of America can show its young citizens that it is not only easy to vote, but that their vote is actually worth something.

Before the problem of low turnout can be solved, it must be understood why it is a problem. Essentially, the less people vote, the less representative the government is of the people. If only the upper-middle class turns out at the polls, politicians can concentrate on the issues pertaining to that group of people and tiptoe around more important issues like education and income distribution. Similarly, if young people don't turnout to vote, politicians can ignore their views altogether. It is almost as if they don't exist at all, as long as they don't mobilize and force government officials to listen to them. This causes bills to be passed without any regard for the young voter. It needs to be understood why young adults are so apathetic and why...

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...t be wasted if they don't initially vote with a mainstream political party.

Each of these proposals is an attempt to solve a problem that is in desperate need of repair. The United States currently trails only Switzerland for the lowest voter turnout in the democratic world. Decreasing the restrictions on registering is one way to attack this problem. Election-day registration enables the youth of America to vote without the struggles of pre-registering months in advance. Implementing instant runoff voting is also a necessary change that would instill confidence in the process of voting for public office.

Each of these methods would increase turnout slightly, but in concurrence, these proposals could combine to be the kind of dynamic electoral policy that would mobilize young voters and force the leaders of this country to listen to what they have to say.

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