WILL THAULT: Vote, but for the right reasons

This Election Day turnout could be one for the history books, if record-breaking early voting nationwide is any indicator. If so, it’ll be something we should all be proud of.

I’m going to “get into the weeds” a bit to prove my point with some tedious statistics, so stay with me please.

According to the “Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections” stat page of the American Presidency Project on the UC Santa Barbara website, www.presidency.ucsb.edu, from 1840-1908, the percentage of the voting age population (VAP) turnout was 65-82%. Thanks to the 15th, 19th and 24th Amendments and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, all persons of age, regardless of race or sex, were granted the Constitutional right to have their voice heard on Election Day. The percentage of voter turnout for the first presidential election that followed in 1968, was a respectable 60.7% of the VAP. However, the race was a close one. Richard Nixon garnered 43.4% for a plurality of the popular vote, which was good enough to defeat sitting VP Hubert Humphrey with 42.7%. That .07% shortfall represented just a bit over a half-million votes.

Now here’s the eyebrow-raiser. If Nixon got 43.4% of the votes, that meant that only 26.4% of all voting age adults actually decided who became the next President of the United States. To go a step further, since the election was so close, it’s fair to say that about 500,000, or Nixon’s .07% edge of all voting age Americans, really put him into office. To keep things simple, let’s set aside the whole issue of the Electoral College for another column. My point today is strictly about voter turnout.

Still with me? Good! ‘Cause there’s more.

If you think it’s a travesty that not much more than a fourth of the voting age population at the time elected a president, in the 1996 election year, it was even worse.

It was Bill Clinton’s run for a second term. His Republican opponent was Bob Dole and third party candidate Ross Perot. Clinton handily trounced second-place Dole by more than 8 million votes, but that’s not the real story. At 49% of the VAP, 1996 was second only to the 1924 presidential election, as having the lowest voter turnout in American history, since tabulations began back in 1828. Clinton’s 47.4 million votes represented 49.2% of all votes cast, but when you factor in the embarrassingly low turnout, he was elected by only 24% of the voting age population.

So there you have it. Two presidential elections with either a Republican or Democratic outcome decided by about 25% of the VAP. Shameful. Our nation’s federal republic is founded upon the notion that the people elect candidates to represent them in the governance of the nation. It’s a privilege granted to us in the Constitution and by the results of hard-fought amendments, yet many of us squander this responsibility either by never bothering to register, or worse, being “no-shows.” There’s no excuse. Even if you don’t want to or can’t vote on Election Day, the absentee ballot is a common option, and early voting is now available in many states.

But this presidential election may prove to be the exception. As first mentioned, early voting has already far exceeded the count of previous years. If you’re among that group, congratulations. If you haven’t voted yet, you still have time.

But here’s my point. If you choose to vote, make sure it’s for the right reasons. Before I get to those, here are some of the wrong reasons to vote for Trump or Biden:

1. I don’t like my candidate, but I like his opponent even less. Therefore I’m voting against my candidate’s opponent as a protest vote. Choosing to vote from a list of candidates for any office is a vote “for” someone, never against. You reserve that kind of vote for a Yes or No referendum or amendment on a ballot. If you vote Yes for a candidate that you really don’t like or trust, how can you be satisfied with the outcome if he wins?

2. The last four years have been nothing but drama. I want the drama to end and vote for a candidate who can bring peace and harmony to a nation divided. Does one really think that by voting for new leadership that the drama will magically go away? The drama will only end when both sides are willing to sit down together and find compromise. There may be many reasons to replace Trump in the White House, but if you’re counting on the press to be less contentious if that happens, think again. Remember, the face of journalism has changed dramatically since the days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. Violence and fanning the flames of controversy makes for must-see TV, not matter who’s in power. Nothing personal, it’s just business.

3. My candidate makes all these wonderful promises that will benefit me, always at the expense of someone else. Really? Here’s a litmus test. List all the promises of both candidates, add up all the ones actually kept when each had the power to make good on them and measure the results – not the excuses. Broken promises by politicians have been around ever since politics began. Just blame the opposition for keeping you from your promises each election cycle and the faithful will blindly follow. Maybe next year. Remember at the beginning of each football season when Lucy promises Charlie Brown that this time she won’t snatch the ball away at the last moment when he tries to kick it? Of course, he believes her, only to fall flat on his keister when she does it again … and again … and again.

So, what’s the right way to vote? Make a list of your core values and try to match them up with each candidate’s accomplishments – not just their promises. Ignore the tired rhetoric, theatrics and comforting bedside manner (or lack thereof). It’s a distraction. It’s time that we paid more attention to reason rather than emotion.

This presidential election year will be historic. Be a part of that history. Be sure to VOTE!