For nearly a decade, political scientist Marc Meredith has focused his research on the political economy of American elections, election administration, election law, political campaigns, voter decision-making, and voter-identification requirements.
Penn Today interviewed Meredith about what’s at stake in the upcoming midterm elections and the importance of increasing voter turnout.
Why do we need to increase voter turnout?
A lot of people felt very dissatisfied with the outcome of the 2016 election. Even if elections don’t go your way, it’s important to feel that your voice was heard as a part of it.
If people are not voting because they feel as though they don’t know enough about their choices or they don’t know how to do it, it’s critical to get these people involved so that they don’t feel so alienated from politics.
Who isn’t voting?
Age and education are noteworthy predictors of whether someone votes. There’s no consensus on why these variables seem so important. But, the older and more educated people are, they vote more often. Younger, less-educated people tend to not vote.
How do we successfully increase voter turnout?
As political scientists, we’ve tried a lot of things over the last 20 to 30 years that we hoped would have big effects. People have been given more options in how they vote. More people are likely to vote before Election Day than they are on Election Day. We’ve tried making it more convenient for people, but inconvenience doesn’t seem to be the biggest barrier. We’ve tried a plethora of mobilization techniques, like asking people to vote, and we’ve only seen small increases in voter turnout because only a small portion of non-voters can be mobilized in this way. We’ve tried automatically registering people to vote when they get a driver’s license, and, while we see some uptick in voting, it is not a magic bullet.
It doesn’t seem to be the case that people are primarily voting out of individual self-interest. They are not voting because they are trying to get personal gains as a result of voting. Giving people lottery tickets or chances to win a million dollars won’t work. That misses the point about voting; people vote because that’s what society expects them to do as a good citizen or because they have a sense of civic duty.
Ultimately, what we need is more structure. People vote when they are interested in voting. What that means is we need to give people a better knowledge base that they can draw on when casting a vote. We need to change norms; getting people more interested in politics and more experience with politics will lead to more voter turnout.
What role does social media play in increasing voter turnout?
One thing that’s been happening in terms of reinforcing voter turnout is social media. You see social media being used on Election Day to talk about voting, or people taking selfies while wearing ‘I Voted!’ stickers. This will be good in the long run for voter turnout. It demonstrates that people are thinking about voting, and it helps people to see examples of other people voting, particularly those in their social networks. This will make it more likely that non-voters in people’s social circles will go vote on Election Day.
Why are local elections a big deal?
Local elections are a big deal because they focus on what affects our daily lives and the things that are most noticeable: Does our trash get picked up every week? Do we have a lot of litter on the ground? Is our neighborhood safe? These things are controlled by local governments, and voting is our primary mechanism to hold our local politicians accountable. Still, the turnout in local elections is only a fraction of what the turnout is in the presidential elections, despite so many important factors being connected to who runs the local government.
What’s at stake with these midterm elections?
The most important thing that will be determined by the midterm elections is the majority party in the Senate and the House. Which party is in the majority in those branches has huge implications on what that branch of government does. The Republicans hold a majority now, and those branches are being used to benefit Republican interests. This is why you haven’t seen a huge push to investigate President Trump’s taxes, because it’s not a priority of the Republican Party. If the Democrats take hold, you will immediately see a change under a Democratic-controlled Congress. There’s uncertainty in both chambers which party will be a majority after the midterm elections.
What research projects are you currently working on?
Right now, I’m examining election administration. I’ve been thinking about how these different potential reforms in terms of how we get registered to vote, or how active voting might impact how much we vote, or who might be disenfranchised from voting. I’ve been trying to gain a stronger grasp on voter identification laws, who lacks that identification, and populations who would like to vote, if they were allowed given the state laws.
Marc Meredith is an associate professor in the Political Science Department in the School of Arts and Sciences, and holds a secondary appointment in the Business Economics and Public Policy Department at the Wharton School.
