In the November presidential election, only 63.7% of eligible voters voted, a shockingly low percentage. In raw numbers, 156,302,318 voted, but 89 million Americans sat out this crucial election. By percentage, it was the second lowest turnout since at least 1992.
In 2024, there was a 1.9 million decrease in Democratic voters for candidate Kamala Harris vs. Joe Biden four years earlier. There are many explanations for this: less support for Harris, the decline of progressivism, shorter attention spans and misinformation and the Democratic party’s overall failure to deliver an effective message. However, what’s important to note is decreased turnout greatly impacted the result of Donald Trump returning to the White House for a second term.
Decreases in turnout and generally low voter turnout have the effect of undermining democracy. According to an article in The Guardian, most non-voters generally fall within two categories: ones who don’t vote because they feel their vote doesn’t matter and ones who don’t vote because they dislike both candidates. Either reason is weak, and both are bad for democracy.
So how can the tide of voting apathy be turned?
First, it’s long past time to get rid of the Electoral College system for electing the president. In addition, it’s time to make voting effectively compulsory.
In the Electoral College system, almost all states are all-or-nothing contests and all of a state’s Electoral College votes go to one candidate, even if he or she narrowly won. This effectively disenfranchises all of those voters whose candidate didn’t win.The system is so bad that, theoretically, a presidential candidate could get 22% of the popular vote and still be elected. A way to increase voter turnout would be getting rid of the Electoral College, which effectively discourages Democratic voters in states like Alabama, a heavily Republican state, and Republican voters in states like California, a heavily Democratic state.
The larger pressing issue, however, is the people who don’t vote because they don’t like either major party’s candidate. Because at least some people who sit in the political center choose not to vote, it leads to less centrist representations, pushing candidates to appeal to extremists, perpetuating the cycle of dissatisfaction.
A fix to this issue is compulsory voting, as seen in Australia and other countries. In Australia, you get a $50 fine if you don’t vote and a $75 fine if it’s a repeat offense. This simple but effective measure brings voter turnout up to 76%.
The United States could bolster its democracy through higher voter turnout, whether it be natural or compulsory, and considering alternatives to the Electoral College system, which naturally leads to a stronger democracy.
Above all, each of us can do our part by voting when we can and encouraging people around us to do so too.