How Do We Get People To Vote?

And now, I present to you, a case of society failing to engage its citizens civically.

As most of us know, last Tuesday was Election Day. This was a very important election for the state of Pennsylvania, where a gubernatorial race occurred that saw the incumbent governor, Tom Corbett, deposed by newcomer Tom Wolf. This Battle of the Toms was not the only important political event that happened on Tuesday, though. The GOP took control over the U.S. Senate, and kept its hold over the House of Representatives. This is sure to change the way that the remaining two years of President Obama's final term play out.

With momentous occasions such as these occurring, you would expect many people to get out and vote to support their favored party or candidate. Sadly, you would be wrong. In fact, the voter turnout last Tuesday was the lowest it has been since WWII. While the linked article makes the argument that this may be due to recent voting restrictions passed in certain states (which I could write an entirely new article about), most of the lack of turnout can safely be attributed to political apathy. Apathy, especially with young people, is strong--even moreso during midterm elections such as this year's. Not only do younger people vote less than older age brackets, they also tend to not care about politics in general. I know that I experienced a lot of political apathy on Election Day. I heard people complaining about any sort of political talk happening at all.

This apathy is obviously a problem; how can our population be accurately represented if not even half of us go out and vote in early November? This is a problem that many campaigns try--and fail--to solve every year. Obviously, there needs to be some rhetorical change made in our strategies. Maybe teachers can help kids register to vote in their high school government classes? How about adding direct incentives? If you guys have any thoughts, let me know in the comments.