By Calen Robertson
Austin, Tx
koop.org/index.php  

Craig Ferguson was mad, pacing back and forth across his late night T.V. stage stopping occasionally to high five the camera as he ripped into the American people; youth in particular. To be fair, he had given his viewers fair warning at the beginning of his show. As a new American citizen voting for the first time in this election, Ferguson is baffled by what he perceives as rampant apathy among American voters
“Votin’ is not hip, it is not fashionable, it’s not a movie, all the kids ain’t doin’ it, but here’s a word, look it up, it is your duty to vote!” 

I would like to think that I share Ferguson’s passion, if not his anger. So I am inclined to look at low voter turn out under a different lens from apathy. The bottom line is that we live in a complex, diverse society, and to think that this complexity and diversity can be boiled down into two party ideologies is a gross oversimplification. There is a large portion of society that simply does not feel  represented.

This is not to say that I agree with the concept that not choosing to vote is a vote. By choosing not to vote, you are also choosing to sacrifice one of your strongest tools for having a voice in a democratic society. So if you can not bring yourself to vote for one of the major party candidates, what are your options?

The first one may seem obvious, but it still deserves mention. While there is no question that our current political system is dominated by the Democratic and Republican parties, third parties do exist. Even though we probably won’t see a third party candidate elected president for some time, giving them the support of your vote forces the major parties to consider third party issues in the hope of swaying some of that constituency.
 
But in the event that you really and truly feel that none of the candidates will accurately represent you, it is possible to cast a blank ballot. The reason that U.S. Senators are able to vote present is because sometimes issues cannot be addressed with a simple yes or no. By casting a blank ballot you are sending the message “I paid attention. I showed up to vote. I was not convinced.”

Traditionally, the youth vote has been ignored except for a few superficial events such as “Rock the Vote”. The youth vote tends to get ignored because we are the demographic with the lowest voter turn out. But here we have a classic self perpetuating problem. The youth don’t vote because candidates don’t represent us, and candidates don’t represent us because they can’t count on our vote. Nevertheless, I have remained optimistic.
 
And so far this election cycle it seems my optimism has been warranted. Already, early voter turn out is breaking records. This year’s candidates have managed to engage the American people, youth in particular, in a way that hasn’t happened before. It will be very interesting to see in 2012 how the candidates approach their campaigns, because it suddenly seems their audience is much broader than before.
However, if they fail to capture the nation’s attention, 2008 may be cemented in history as a fluke.
   
It is my sincerest hope that it is not. It is my sincerest hope that on Nov. 4th you will show up to cast your ballot (if you haven't already). Because when it comes down to it, we can’t wait for the politicians to make the first move. Whether you are registering your support for a candidate or simply voting present, you will have given our politicians something to listen to. We can’t be heard if we choose not to speak.
   

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