You have all heard the hypothetical question from people exasperated by Arizona politics: “Who voted for that idiot?”
The premise of the question, however, is wrong. It is not the people who voted who are to blame. Arizonans get the government they DON’T vote for. The blame lies with people who do not vote.
The last election data available is from 2012. The Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) of Arizona according to Census data was 4,957, 376.
The number of registered voters eligible to vote in the general election was only 3, 124, 712. Of that number, only 2,323, 579 bothered to cast a ballot (not all of those ballots were counted). This is a 74.36% voter turnout, among the better voter turnouts in the nation, but this number is highly misleading.
There were 2,633,797 citizens of the voting age population in Arizona who were either (a) not registered to vote, or (b) if registered to vote, did not bother to cast a ballot — more than the total number of registered voters who did cast a ballot in 2012.
And 2012 was a presidential election year in which voter interest and turnout typically is at its zenith. Midterm elections are when voter interest and turnout is at its nadir.
In 2010, the number of registered voters eligible to vote in the general election was 3, 146,418 (higher than in 2012). Of that number, only 1,750,840 bothered to cast a ballot. This is a pathetic 55.65% voter turnout.
As a citizen of the United States, you owe a civic duty to vote. It is the bare minimum requirement of the privilege of your citizenship. Democracies die from neglect. The more than half of Arizona citizens of the voting age population who wilfully (a) are not registered to vote, or (b) if registered to vote, do not bother to vote are destroying our democracy. And we get the government that they DON’T vote for.
Do your duty, citizen! Get registered and VOTE!
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I wish it were that simple, but it’s not. Candidates and parties need to give voters a reason to vote for them. What annoys you (and me) is that the Repubs do much better at getting out their core voters than the Dems do in mid-term elections.
But I blame the party and candidates, not the voters.
Consider the Dems – they consider their base to be younger and more liberal and more female and non-white.
So how does Barber campaign ? With appeals to old white voters who want to seal the borders. Gotta go after those middle-of-the-roaders. And then complain that their base doesn’t vote.
The reason that Repubs do better in mid-terms is that they know how to motivate their base, while Dems treat their with disdain, knowing that they have no one else to vote for, and try to motivate “moderates”.