What factors play into a lack of voter participation and what should be done to increase turnout on Election Day?
That was the question 19 students from eighth to 12th grade answered for the League of Women Voters of Brown County essay contest.
Brown County High School senior Annika Evenson won $250 after her essay was awarded first place in the high school division. Brown County Middle School eighth-grader Alayna Jacobus won $250 for her first place essay in the middle school division.
“(The League) is a non-partisan political organization. While we do not advocate for any political party or candidate, we do work hard for public education of the issues on which our democracy depends. And toward this end, we seek to engage our young people in these issues, including offering an essay contest to start important conversations,” said League co-vice president Laurie Teal.
The essay contest was from last November to this January for Brown County Schools and homeschool students.
Students were asked to address the following prompt: “We do not have government by the majority,” wrote Thomas Jefferson. “We have government by the majority who participate.” Jefferson and other founders understood the importance of civic participation, yet today America’s voter turnout is increasingly low. What factors play into this lack of participation and what can or should be done to increase voter turnout in Indiana?
Seventeen essays from eighth graders and two from high school students were judged by six retired educators. Winners were notified by email. A formal letter and certificate of achievement were also sent to all students who participated in the essay contest.
Eighth-grader Alexandra Foster won $150 with her second place essay “The Issue of Voter Turnout in the US.” Aubree Denton won third place and $75 in the middle school division for her essay “Increasing Voter Turnout.”
Freshman Taylor Lucas won second place and $150 in the high school division for her essay “Voting Discrepancies of Citizens in the United States.”
“I think that this prompt was incredibly interesting, and it really got me thinking about what could be done to help increase voter turnout!” Evenson told the League.
”As a new voter I am passionate about trying to increase voter turnout among everyone but specifically among people my age. So it was really interesting for me to research all the ways to increase voter turnout to better our democracy.”
The following eighth graders also wrote essays for the contest: Riley Braden, Westin Fulford, Shyanna Luckey, Cash Harden, Hailee Darnell, Mady Hawkins, Gracie Van Zuiden, Noah Reynolds, Sadie Hiatt, Samantha Goodwin, Genevieve Laguna, Pershing John McMasters, Kylie Root and Brooklyn Hubbard.
“We know it takes extra effort to add ‘one more thing’ to an already full student schedule, and we appreciate the effort of every student who took the time to ponder and write about the important civic responsibility of voting,” Teal said.
“The League of Women Voters encourages students to take part in our democracy and support democratic principles. As Pearl S. Buck said, ‘The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation.’”
Winners and their families were to be honored by the League at a Zoom event.
Read the essays
FIRST PLACE: HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION
Solutions for the Lack of Voter Participation in Indiana: The Current State of Voter Participation in the United States
By Annika Evenson, 12th grade, Brown County High School
The 2020 general election was an anomaly in recent voter turnout trends. Across the country, voters mobilized and there was a 2% overall increase in the number of registered voters, and the number of people who actually voted increased by 5% compared to 2016 (Fabina). In the 2020 general election, there was a 65% voter turnout in Indiana (“General Election Turnout and Registration”). There were 4,751,370 registered voters in Indiana and only 3,068,625 voted. This is on par with the rest of the nation’s voter turnout. 65% is equivalent to a D — a failing grade. Something needs to be done to raise the grade and get people out to vote in the next election. It is critical that people do their civic duty in order to keep our democracy thriving because without voting the whole principle of the United States government falls apart.
Apathy, cynicism, and lack of efficacy are the biggest issues impacting voter turnout. Some people are frustrated with what is happening in the government and they feel like their vote cannot make a difference so they do not vote. People assume incumbents will win the election again and they believe that their one vote cannot make a difference. Widespread apathy is dangerous because many people not voting because they think they can’t make difference adds up to a lot of people. Cynicism is when people lose trust in the government and it has greatly increased within the last 50 years (increasing drastically after the Pentagon Papers). This loss of trust can be attributed to people feeling out of touch with their representatives and government. In 2003, 75% of people felt out of touch with their government officials (“Part 6: Cynicism, Trust and Participation”). The disconnect between the government and the people can cause people to not vote because they don’t think that it really affects them since they are not connected to the government. Both apathy and cynicism tie into the lack of political efficacy. Political efficacy is when people believe that they can change the government as well as understand and influence political affairs. Majority of people lack political efficacy. The lack of political efficacy is plaguing our democracy because when people feel powerless they do not vote which leads to Thomas Jefferson’s idea of “majority who participate”. America’s current representative government is not representative of the broader United States population because of the lack of political participation. Political participation needs to be promoted to “allow [people] to practice political skills and participate in political settings” in order to attain “greater political efficacy and political equality“ (Padilla et al. 1). There are several ways to increase political participation in Indiana like strengthening civics education in schools, implementing automatic voter registration, and using no excuse mail-in ballots.
Civics education in the United States is inadequate. Only 37 states require students to demonstrate sufficient civic knowledge (“Resource Title: 50-State Comparison: Civic Education Policies”). Indiana is one of the states that does require a civics class (in the form of a high school United States Government class) and assesses students on their knowledge of how they can participate in civics (“Civic Education Policies: State Profile – Indiana”). While Indiana has a comparatively strong civics education, it is still lacking in terms of teaching students the importance of voting and participating in the United States’ democracy. In Kansas, one study was done that showed that “voter participation was 2.1 percent higher for both 18-year-olds and their parents” when a strong civics education was implemented into the curriculum (Graves). A rudimentary government education only goes so far. Civics education in Indiana could be improved by creating education standards that require students to be taught how to be successful voters. In order to be a successful voter, people need to be able to know how to research and identify candidates that they would like to vote for as well as the ins and outs of how to vote. Learning about the United States government is one step in civics education but to increase people’s civic literacy we need to teach young people how to vote and participate in democracy.
There are currently 22 states that have same-day voter registration; Indiana is not one of them (“What States Allow Same Day Voter Registration?”). Some of those states also have automatic voter registration which automatically registers people to vote when they become eligible. According to the Center for American Progress implementing automatic voter registration would “result in more than 22 million newly registered voters in just the first year of implementation”. By increasing the number of eligible voters, it makes elections more representative of the broader population. Automatic voter registration also benefits those who are disenfranchised by removing the structural barriers that might prevent them from registering to vote like transportation or internet access. When people are automatically registered and do not have to go through the hoops of registration, they are more likely to turn out on election day.
Mail-in ballots are the best way to increase voter turnout. Indiana currently has a mail-in ballot system but in order to use it people need to present a valid excuse. No excuse ballots do not require people to have a reason for requesting a mail-in ballot. No excuse mail-in ballots remove the barriers of transportation, waiting outside in inclement weather, and finding time during the workday. There are 34 states that have no excuse mail-in ballot voting systems in place, and 5 states use mail-in ballots for everyone in all elections (West). Indiana could greatly benefit from the use of no excuse mail-in ballots due to the majority of rural communities that leave potential voters stranded without a way to get to their polling place or without the option to take off of work to vote. Two of the biggest barriers that prevent people from voting are transportation to their polling location and Election Day being on a Tuesday- no excuse mail-in ballots solve both of these issues.
Within the past year, there have been many bills that have limited people’s voting rights and this is a major threat to American democracy because it reduces the number of people who can vote. In January 2022, the Senate voted on a bill called The Freedom to Vote Act which would expand voting rights for all people- it was not passed. The Freedom to Vote Act would have addressed “ voter registration and voting access, election integrity and security, redistricting, and campaign finance” (Klobuchar). Two of the things that this bill proposed were implementing an automatic voter registration program and making vote-by-mail an option for all voters. It also would have made Election Day a federal holiday, allowed incarcerated people to vote, and would crack down on fraudulent voter registration. While all of these items might not be feasible at one time, they are most definitely doable and would benefit voters immensely. Indiana needs to help lead the charge in establishing updated voting practices that will help increase voter participation and give America its democracy back. Indiana could set up better civic education standards, begin to use automatic voter registration, or provide a no excuse mail-in ballot option; any of these options would greatly increase Indiana’s voter participation. America’s democracy is currently being led by a majority of those who participate- and this can be changed to represent the true scope and diversity of the American people.
FIRST PLACE: JUNIOR HIGH DIVISION
Here is the 8th grade first place essay, written by Alayna Jacobus.
How to Increase Civic Participation through Voting
By Alayna Jacobus, eighth grade, Brown County Middle School
The Preamble of the Constitution states, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union … do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The first three words of the Preamble are “We the People”, which summarizes the very idea of the U.S. government – a government run for and by the people. The only problem with this is that people are reluctant to participate in the government through voting. If people do not participate in a government centered around them, the government will fall. People choose not to vote for a number of reasons. Some of those reasons relate to a lack of general knowledge of the government and voting system. The only way to increase voter turnout when this is the case is to educate people.
A lot of people do not vote because they think that their vote will not make a difference. They think that their individual vote has a low probability of really making a difference in the election. Without individual votes, though, there would be no election. The large number of incoming ballots all came from a large number of individual voters. If everyone stopped voting because they thought that their vote did not make a difference, there would be no votes to run the election with. Also, there have been multiple cases where a candidate won an election by only a few votes. If we educate people on how individual votes affect the outcome of an election, more people will vote.
Some people do not vote because they think that the voting system is too complicated. Different states have different laws for voter ID, early voting, absentee ballots, etc. If people do not know the voting laws for their state, they will have a difficult time understanding why they cannot vote in a certain way. The only way to promote understanding of the voting system is to educate people about it. If people are taught how the voting system works, and how it differs from state to state, people will understand how voting works and how to participate.
People may choose not to vote because of a lack of knowledge of politics in general. They do not want to make an uninformed decision that could affect the country. The only way to solve the problem of people not understanding politics is to help them understand through education. When people understand politics, they will be able to make informed decisions when voting and will feel confident that they know what they are doing.
People choose not to vote for many reasons, the majority relating to a lack of knowledge of the government and voting system. The only way to fix this is to educate people. People who do not vote because they do not understand how individual votes affect an election, or because they simply do not know how to vote, can be educated on how the voting system works and how to vote. People who do not vote because they do not understand how the government and politics work can be educated about that. If people are clearly taught about these things from an early age, people will understand how important voting is and why they (and everyone) should vote. As human rights activist Malcolm X said, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
