In the 1988 presidential election between George Bush and Michael Dukakis, 91,602,291 American people showed up to vote. Now that seems like a lot of people, but what you don’t realize is the 91,050,000 registered voters did not vote in that election. This 50.15% voter turnout was the lowest in sixty-four years, falling nearly 20% short of voter turnout in most all other industrialized countries. Many people argue that this low turnout is due to voter’s lack of concern. Many Americans claim that voting is useless because they cannot change the government. On the other hand millions of other voters disagree and prove it by voting every election, whether it be national or local. They do this because they truly believe that their vote does count. There are four reasons that a person should vote. One, voting is what a democracy is all about. Two, The entire system would collapse if no one voted. Three, voting is the only way you can be sure that your voice will be heard. And four, voting is simply important in itself. If Americans do not like the system or their politicians, they only have themselves to blame. The people are the government in a democracy and voting is the foundation of the American Democracy. Voters can elect leaders, recall officials, cut taxes, raise money, and basically tell the government how to run the country. That kind of voting is the most important tool for private citizens to influence the government and town officials. Voting is also the most effective tool for social change, but instead of taking the responsibility of voting many people stay home and insist that their vote won’t count anyway. When change does not happen those are the people that have the problem and only complain and it is because they are simply lazy. So, I encourage you to stop complaining long enough to get out and vote if you don’t like the way our government is being run. Voting is how decisions ...
