Who are the people who do not vote?
Commission on Election Administration released in 2014 revealed that over 5 million voters in 2012 experienced wait times exceeding one hour and another 5 million waited between a halfhour and an hour. This isn’t a new problem, and it exists for myriad reasons, such as insufficient staffing. Ohio still needs about 20,000 more poll workers.
Waiting over an hour to vote isn’t just inconvenient for many, it’s unworkable. More than 53 million Americans earn median hourly wages of $10.22 and annual wages of $17,950. If you’re in this group, your work hours are likely inflexible. Voting probably means taking time away from work — if you can get it — with no pay. While not everyone in this group might be eligible to vote, the breadth of low-paying jobs should help us understand why voting is difficult for many.
The commission offered several remedies, such as online voter registration. When the report was published, only a few states offered online voter registration. Now, 39 states and the District of Columbia do, and 19 states and D.C. have some form of automatic voter registration. More states need to get onboard with simplifying the process.
Instead of locating polling places near voters’ residences, polling places should be placed at sites where voters either pass by or stop by in the normal course of the day. The NBA is lending a hand by making many of its arenas available for polling.
Roughly half of poll workers are retired — thank goodness for them — but shouldn’t we be making this civil duty more attractive to younger voters? Better training, generally found by the commission to be insufficient, is warranted.
If the goal is higher voter participation, we need to make the entire process simple and convenient.
Research conducted by Pew in 2015 evidences how far removed low-income Americans are from politics. Survey participants were divided into five groups based on a variety of economic measurements. The groups at the two extremes were characterized as most secure and least secure financially.
Ninety-five percent of those in the most secure group were registered to vote in 2014, as opposed to just 54% of the least secure. Sixty-nine percent of the most secure group voted in 2010, versus just 30% of the least secure.
Perhaps most significant, 62% of the most secure knew which party controlled both the House and Senate, but only 26% of the least secure did. This latter group is composed largely of women with a high school degree or less, who are either divorced, separated or never married. The vast majority are either just meeting their expenses or don’t have enough money to meet their expenses.
It’s no surprise this group doesn’t get concerned about voting. When you’re struggling to survive, the promises of presidential candidates are as distant as the moon. If you’re earning less than $20,000 a year, your life looks much different in terms of daily challenges than it does for someone earning more than $75,000.
For too many Americans, voting is just too hard and, even if they vote, it doesn’t seem to change their lives.
Jack D’aurora is a partner with The Behal Law Group and produces a podcast Lawyer Up! Columbus.