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May 20, 2012

STATE OF THE STATEHOUSE: Can one single voter make a difference?

Maureen Hayden CNHI

In a recent column, I posed a question about why only 19 percent of Indiana’s 4 million voters cast a ballot in the May primary election. I promised not to chastise anyone who would ’fess up to not voting.

I’ll keep part of the promise: I won’t do the scolding, but will let someone else heap on a bit of shame.

Of the many interesting emails I received from people who answered my question about voter disengagement, two stood out for their lack of cynicism.

One was from a 72-year-old woman who described herself as “just an ordinary, concerned citizen.”

She asked that I not use her name but gave her okay to use her words. “I did vote in the election, but reluctantly,” she wrote.

Like others who contacted me, she said she was weary of nasty campaigns and worn out by news of corrupt politicians.

Here’s why she did make the effort: “I try to focus on all the women who sacrificed so much for women to be able to vote, and for the privilege of living in a country where we are free to vote as we choose.”

Similar sentiments came from John Seifert, a retired teacher from Terre Haute, who described himself as being just shy of 80.

He noted a reference I made to Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, authors of the “Freakonomics” series of books and columns that apply economic theory to human behaviors.

They’ve argued that an individual voter has little real incentive to vote since close elections are exceedingly rare.

Seifert’s take on that: “Dubner and Levitt may be right that a single vote is not likely to influence an election. But that’s not the end of it; the single voter is not truly single. He may influence others in his circle to adopt the attitude that voting is not necessary.”

I’m guessing Seifert was one of those teachers who made a big impact on his students.

Here’s some of what else he had to say:

“I see the single non-voter as a single malignant cell; she influences others not to vote. A father or mother who does not exercise the responsibility and privilege of voting sets the example for children. Workers who poo poo the need to vote influence co-workers and contribute to the climate that a single vote does not count.”

And here’s more of why I bet it was fun to be in Seifert’s class: “I find some non-voters rather proud of their status …” he wrote. “I have one acquaintance who says, ‘I have never voted and I never will.’ Many of the upper class and middle class in Germany, I read in the biography of Albert Speers, Hitler’s architect, were proud of keeping their distance from the political process.”

Seifert confesses to employing some drama with that historic reference (but it caught your attention, didn’t it?) but continues on: “That attitude did not spread overnight. And with fewer people to manipulate, it was undoubtedly easier for the Nazi thugs to take over … And the disenchantment with voting,” he continues, “may have started with one influential person per circle of friends.”

Anybody want to try to counter that?



Maureen Hayden is the Indiana Statehouse bureau chief for CNHI, the parent company of the Tribune-Star. She can be reached at maureen.hayden@indianamediagroup.com.

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