Turnout for last week’s primary election was simultaneously encouraging and disappointing.
In Clark County, a little more than 100,000 voters cast ballots. The final numbers are not in, but it appears that about 36 percent of the county’s 279,000 registered voters took part. The encouraging news: That is a sharp improvement from the 29 percent turnout of the last midterm primary, in 2014. The disappointing aspect: that we can find encouragement in a paltry 36 percent of registered voters being involved in our political system.
Apathy has become so endemic that the American people are allowing their democracy to slip away by ignoring their civic duty to vote. Nearly 180,000 Clark County residents last week declined an opportunity to help choose representatives who will make decisions that affect their daily lives. And that does not include eligible voters who don’t bother to register.
In this regard, Clark County is far from unique; throughout Washington, turnout was about 40 percent, meaning that 2.5 million ballots languished on kitchen counters. According to the secretary of state’s office, Clark County ranks 34th among Washington’s 39 counties in turnout.
This is not a result of unavoidable large-county apathy. Clark County is the fifth-most populous county in the state, and three of the four largest counties had higher participation. In Spokane County, turnout is expected to end up being about 46 percent.
Before we go any further, we should probably explain why we believe more eligible voters should cast ballots. Engagement and participation are essential to a strong democracy, and declining voter turnout demonstrates a lack of faith in our time- tested political system. That lack of faith is a weakness, one that undermines our nation and is an affront to Americans who came before us. For decades, nay centuries, people in this country marched in the streets and placed themselves in harm’s way simply for the right to vote. When we don’t exercise that hard-earned right, we diminish the very foundation of the United States.
But enough about the disappointment. The encouraging aspect of last week’s election is that turnout did increase from the previous midterm. Part of that, undoubtedly, was increased interest during these politically contentious times. Many Americans have been awakened by threats to our democracy and by sharp ideological differences.
But another factor likely is that Washington for the first time provided prepaid envelopes for its vote-by-mail election. This became an issue earlier this year when King County unilaterally approved prepaid postage for elections. Having just one county with prepaid ballots would be unworkable; for example, a statewide race for U.S. Senate would be skewed by having one county with prepaid return and 38 counties without. So the state came up with funding to allow all counties to have postage paid in advance.
It is impossible to determine how much of a factor that played in increased turnout, but it likely helped by removing one of the frequent excuses people use to avoid voting. The key now is to remove the other excuses and draw more people to the polls, and that calls for improved education and dedication to civics lessons that get the public involved in the process.
The right to vote is a sacrosanct part of being an American. If we don’t exercise it, eventually it will atrophy.
