Year Voting Age Population Registration Turnout % T/O of VAP
1998 200,929,000 141,850,558 73,117,022 36.4 % 1996 196,511,000 146,211,960 96,456,345 49.08% 1994 193,650,000 130,292,822 75,105,860 38.78% 1992 189,529,000 133,821,178 104,405,155 55.09% 1990 185,812,000 121,105,630 67,859,189 36.52% 1988 182,778,000 126,379,628 91,594,693 50.11%
[For 1998, 70.6% of the voting-age population were registered to vote.]
Even for those who believe that representative majoritarianism is democracy, the numbers clearly show that not only do the winning candidates not have majority support, the act of investing in the electoral system itself does not have majority support. I don't think the newspapers will care until turnout gets below 25%, possibly indicating that too much of the population is out of control. (Did anyone see today's lead editorial on Nader in the NYTimes?) I guess it might be assuring to know that so many people are disinterested in electoral politics, maybe these people are involved in other, more-participatory politics. You can vote for Nader, or if not Nader then McReynolds, "NOTA", your mother, "DEMOCRACY," "ABOLISH CAPITALISM," whatever, many options. Voting Nader/Green might do some good.
--TN ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com