There's no excuse not to vote

Why is it that Americans have to get angry before they are willing to vote?

And even when they are angry, still fewer than two thirds of those eligible end up going to the polls.
In 2008, voters were angry about the way Republicans were running the country, and so they voiced this anger by voting a Democratic president into office. A recent Newsweek article, “I’m Mad as Hell … And I’m Going to Vote!” shows that, once again, American people are upset and heading to the polls.

This time, however, the Democratic party might not fair so well. Now, voters are upset not because of the things that Bush did while in office, but rather by things that Obama hasn’t done while in office.

According to, “Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008,” a government census report published in May, there were more college-age students that voted in 2008 than in any previous year.

Even with all of the work that the 2008 elections put into registering young voters, there was still only a 49 percent voting rate among those citizens’ ages 18 to 24 years old. How can it be that the next generation of Americans care so little about the future of our country that less than one out every two of them vote?

In the 2008 elections, the voting rate for the country as a whole was 63.6 percent. This voting rate is slightly better than that of people ages 18 to 24, but still rather dismal. That means that a full one-third of those citizens eligible to vote do not even take the time to participate in the democratic process for the most powerful country in the world.

For the basic human right of suffrage, a human right that people have fought and died for, it is amazing that more people don’t vote.
Encouraging people to vote is not just a problem in the U.S.

Many countries in the world struggle to encourage their citizens to vote. So what country’s citizens have the best voting record? Belgium and Australia do, but only because in these countries voting is compulsory and if you neglect this civil duty, then you could risk a fine, or in more severe cases, according to the Electoral Reform Society, you could be passed over the next time you are up for promotion at work.
Even with compulsory voting, these countries are not able to encourage 100 percent of their citizens to vote, but they do typically have a greater than 90 percent voting rate.

Unfortunately, if you are not registered to vote yet, Tuesday was the registration deadline in order to be able to vote in New Mexico’s upcoming general election.

But that shouldn’t stop you from registering or voting in the future.
Voting is designed to be simple and easy in order to encourage more people to do it. If you care about the future of your country, then show it!