Low Voter Turnout

Over the last 40 years, voter turnout has been steadily declining in the established democracies. This trend has been significant in the United States, Western Europe, Japan and Latin America. In 2014, the New York Times reported that the November midterm elections was abysmally low in regards to voter turnout. Over all, the national turnout of the election was only 36.3% compared to over 70 decades ago when the voter participation turnout was only 36.3% (Board 2014) . Thus said, with a clear non-advancement in voter turnout, can it ultimately be considered a problem that needs to be fixed? Low participation is a cynical argument, exclaiming that: voters need to be more concern, elections don’t matter, and real decisions are made by power elites
In today’s society, now that we all have the opportunity to vote, it should be respected when someone does not want to participate in casting a ballot. There are numerous reason as to why someone would not want to vote. Americans conscious of how the system works, are already aware of the flood of "dark money" that routinely distorts the electoral process. Many, know that our democracy is a farce. We live in a plutocracy where money buys elections and wealth rules supreme. Political intellectuals have varied theories about why some potential voters do not trouble themselves to vote, especially in off-year or nonpresidential elections. A scholarly article published in the American Journal of Political Science, proposed that midterm elections lack a “wow” factor and that generally only political adherents bother to vote (Fulwood 2014) . Regardless of President Obamas lack of American support, his acumen as a Presidential candidate encouraged remarkable turnout among unlikely voters, especially those who are young, minority, and poor. That was because voting is an expression of hope, a belief that a citizen’s input into the system will yield social
One may argue that: Low turnout discourages individual development, being justified with low turnout being a significant lost opportunity. Voting may shape more than just an election, it may shape voters and help determine what manner of people they are. The most obvious concern arising from low turnout is that it produces an unrepresentative electorate. Yet all are invalid points because we live in a liberal democracy where we should have the freedom to not vote, there is a lack of party identification, and low turnout has no impact on the