Although voting is a privilege granted to every adult in America, few
people take time to elect the people to represent them at the local, state
and federal levels. To combat voter apathy and to make voting more
convenient, several states including Tennessee have opened the polls for
people to vote before the general election date Nov. 8.
Workers at the Knoxville and Chattanooga election commissions report that
the flow of voters has been steady since early voting began last week, but
so far there has been no confirmed evidence that early voting has
influenced more people to vote. In Texas the number of people voting early
is one-third of all voters. In some states people do not even have to go to
the polls at all. Perhaps voters can cast ballots on the Internet in the
Voting is not to be taken for granted, and everyone who can vote should
exercise this right. But is America so apathetic that we need to have polls
in the supermarket to get people to vote? The myth that one vote does not
count is a myth no matter how hard it is to really fathom that one out of
thousands counts. It counts because it is an example for others to vote.
Some people say they do not care about politics, but they do every time
they pay taxes. Opinions show then, but why not at voting time? Unless
people have not flipped through t.v. channels lately or have not driven
down a main street, there is no excuse to not recognize a few of the names
on the ballot. With these excuses aside, we should look at the consequences
of making voting easy and convenient as getting gas and milk at the same
There is something more patriotic and spiritual about all voters voting on
the same day at their assigned precincts than having sporadic voting. If
someone is going to spend time to vote, the same motivation will lead them
to the polls or make them fill out a ballot and put it in the mail. Voting
is an effort no matter how it is presented.
New voting procedures can promote laziness
Published: Tue Oct 25, 1994 | Modified: Sat Aug 06, 2005 12:46 p.m.