Jerry Skurnik is probably the most academic of all the resident bloggers here, and that’s good. His columns are factual and insightful. He backs up his positions with stats and verifiable info. He hardly moves to those fudgy areas of innuendo, speculation and political gossip, where most bloggers move on occasion, and where a few actually reside permanently. And that’s good.
As a writer, he is thoughtful and analytical. I do enjoy his posts. They are different. Note that I also enjoy the writings all the other resident bloggers here, so this is no attempt at a slight. Jerry is just consistently different, that’s all.
So last week when he posted about voter turnout in the city, compared to the suburbs and upstate areas, I pulled out my notebook- like any good student- and I made some notes. Then I went out and did some checking on my own. Low voter turnout has become a troubling reality in contemporary New York.
In looking at city races primarily, I found that the last time turnout topped 80% of all registrants, was in the 1969 mayoral race. I also observed a downward spiral since, only occasionally spiking upwards in presidential elections. I can’t seem to find any significant tangible attempts to turn this around, except for some efforts by the League of Women Voters, Citizen’s Union, and a handful of other civic organizations. Except for the Campaign Finance Board and an occasional hiccup from the Board of Elections, initiatives from elected officials and governmental agencies are woefully inadequate.
The Motor Voter Initiative where registration forms were placed in various agencies was some sort of symbolic attempt in this regard. Point being, there is no real sustained or systematic effort to increase turnout here in the city. No new ideas have been adopted in some time. Apparently apathy has set in amongst our commissioners.
A few years ago, officials in Oregon (for example), attempted to increase turnout by allowing a week for mailing the ballots in. There was a staggering increase in voter participation. Around 75% of the registrants voted. Maybe that’s a New York idea whose time has come, so to speak.
Anyway, there are those who will argue that voting is a civic responsibility, and as such, no matter what the prevailing attitudes of the electeds were, it’s a citizen’s choice not to vote, and there is no intimidation here. Some political scientists even argue that non-voting is “functional”, and argue against the penalties for non-voting that some other countries impose. Still, as I have said before, low voter turnout is somewhat troubling, especially to a ” political crack head” like me.
For years I have searched for the “why” in non-voting. I have read the various studies; I have read the many polls done on this subject. Then it hit me, as I kept going back to 1969: it’s the “3-rs”, stupid. Yes! Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmethic. The flawed educational system of New York is directly linked to this problem. There is a parallel to the drop in voting, and that is the drop in reading, writing and arithmetic scores. Compare them year to year. They are almost identical.
Over the last 37 years, we in New York have failed to graduate half of our high school seniors. These students are eventually subsumed by our social system. Some return to get High School Equivalency diplomas (GED)-since there are countless programs out there for that- and eventually a few go on to college. For the most part however, we are sending out into the larger society, youngsters who can’t chew gum, think and walk straight, all at the same time. They lack critical thinking skills and have little sense of civic responsibility. (Note here that the subject “Civics’, is no longer significant in the school curriculum). They are also making terrible life-choices; and whenever one sums up the quality of one’s life, it is always about the choices that were made (good or bad).
In the communities where blacks and Latinos predominate, combinations of systematic parental, societal and educational failures have created an underclass of dropouts, unemployables, drug-abusers, social-deviants and misfits. Is it a wonder that our prison population is so high? Is it a wonder that the recidivism rate amongst prisoners from communities of color is so cancerous?
What is also noticeable in these areas is the paucity in the numbers of people doing volunteer work. In hospices, hospitals, senior homes or centers, social or human services agencies, churches, wherever, those in authority bemoan the fact that they can’t get enough volunteers to help in needed areas.
Further, I have personally observed a decrease in activity amongst tenant associations, block associations and civic organizations in the areas in Flatbush where I once headed up a non-profit CBO, and where I have served on various boards. This observation has been made over the past decade. You can hardly get people to attend community meetings, far less serve as officers.
It seems to all come right back to the educational system here, and the perpetual failures therein. So is it a wonder that so many seem to lack elementary social skills in out-there-land? Is it any wonder that voter turnout is low? The answers my friend, are “blowing in the wind”, and the ones we elect to (hopefully) help us find the answers (to this and many other troubling issues), well they are only blowing smoke.
Stay tuned.