Question

Voter turnout, or the percentage of eligible voters who actually exercise their vote, hovers around 50 percent in US presidential elections. And the turnout is much lower among those who are between the ages of 18 and 25. Discuss the reasons for why so many people do not bother to exercise their vote. Could it be that our political system with its Electoral College and two major parties makes an individual’s vote appear insignificant? And is it the belief that one vote doesn’t really matter that leads to mass social loafing? There is a list of factors that have been shown to reduce social loafing. Which ones could be applied to encourage more people to participate in elections? What in your opinion will be the impact of Internet voting on turnout among the young in future presidential elections?

Answer 1

It’s true that there is a decrease in the number of people who turn out to vote, especially among people who are in their early adulthood. One of the major reasons for this trend is that they are not aware the impact the winning party who would form the government will have on them. Secondly, this generation young adults are very selfish and lazy that they are worried only about satisfying their basic needs and they don’t raise their bar and look into the society as a whole. Thirdly, they don’t have enough political knowledge thus in a confused state in terms of who to vote. They don’t know what difference their vote could cause or what change the government might bring to them. It could be also contributed to lack of trust.

Social loafing refers to one’s decreased efforts to do something when they are in a group but increased effort in accomplishing a task when one is alone. Thus internet voting, in my opinion would increase the number of people vote due to the increased amount of technology and gadget use. They are comfortable with the gadgets and doing things at their comfort and that’s why they don’t get out to vote. But the election commission should be very careful in handling technology as there are all possibilities that the results would be manipulated.

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