Young voters: Why don't they take the time?

By Sondra Appelson The Pantherette

If there is good weather and a prediction of a close race, then eligible voters might show up at the polls, but only if they are not too busy. Polls have found the number one excuse for not voting and not registering to vote is a busy schedule.

When I recently turned 18 years old, I took a trip over to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my driver’s license. The added effort of signing my name on that slip of paper, also known as the voter registration form, took a lot out of me.

Then getting to the polls last Nov. 6, so that I could vote in favor of propositions that would give more money to schools, was even more of a burden. It was almost as much of a nuisance as reading an outdated textbook discussing how Tony Blair has recently taken over as Prime Minister and questioning what happens after Boris Yeltsin is no longer the leader of Russia.

Maybe next time those non-voters are sitting at their desks at Paschal, incensed by the arctic temperatures of the classrooms caused by air conditioners turned on during the winter season, they can think back to that one day they decided not to vote and not to have a voice. Eighty-one percent of non-voters believe that voting is an important part of being a good American citizen, yet 23 percent believe other obligations keeping them busy take precedent over the democratic process. Voting is a right and a privilege, not a pesky inconvenience. It is a chance for people to help shape public policy.

Voter turnout was at an all-time high for the presidential election of 2004, with a grand total of 60 percent. The United Kingdom experienced a dramatic low at 59 percent in 2001. The November election, because it was only on local issues, grabbed the attention of a whopping total of approximately 8 percent of the registered voting Texas population.

I guess that brief glimpse of cold weather hindered voters bound for the polls.

Sondra Appelson is a senior at Paschal High School in Fort Worth and wrote this article for the student newspaper, The Pantherette.