Those who vote tend to be actively engaged in a wide range of community-based events, such as volunteer work and close touch with elected officials. This is equates to increasing awareness of community projects, contributing to the social capital of their communities. This will effect the voting process and the 2020 Election.

“No matter what you think or whom you support, it is essential to exercise your rights.”

Episode 9 The Election

Although “one man, one vote” is the basis of democracy, few citizens even bother to cast their first ballot. This truth is clearly reflected in figures who never lie and speak for themselves. For example, studies over the last 30 years have shown a huge gap of high-income, elderly voters with very partisan special interests. This wildly unequal electoral profile leads to speculation as to how different our world would be, with packed political participation, to protect against the erosion of the democratic system.

American Elections in 2020

Americans voted in huge numbers in the presidential election last year, casting around 158.4 million votes. This is true of more than six-in-ten people of voting age and almost two-thirds of the eligible voters.

However, you measure this, the turnout of the voters jumped in 2020.

“Nationally, the voter participation for the presidential election was about 7 percent higher than in 2016.“

Episode 9 The Election

A polarizing clash between Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden is driving the voter participation rate higher than ever before: a pre-election survey found a record proportion of registered voters (83%) saying that “it really mattered” who won. As well as, the significant steps taken by many states to broaden mail-voting and early-voting as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the magnitude and intensity of the pandemic became apparent, many states hastily shifted their presidential and state primaries to push for mail voting.  Mail ballots accounted for over half of the votes cast in 21 of the 49 presidential, state, and combined primaries for which detailed breakdowns of votes were available.

The success of Mail in Ballots

The mail-in voting process has a range of built-in safeguards which together make it hard for one person to vote unlawfully, and even more complicated to rig votes on a scale that is able of swinging election results.

Other benefits include:

• Only valid voters can receive a ballot by mail.
• Voters are required to confirm their identity
• It’s very difficult to make fake ballots.
• The Postal Service will notice the oddities.

WARNING EFFECTS OF MAIL BALLOTING 

The delivery of mail is not uniform across the country. Native Americans, in particular, could have difficulty with all-mail elections. People not having street numbers or mailboxes commonly occur. Literacy can also be a concern for some voters. Literacy can also be an issue for voters in traditional polling stations. One way to minimize this is to analyze how voter centers are allocated across counties to better serve the population.

Your Voice Matters

I, along with the whole crew, will be voting in this election. After thorough research and debating we felt as if it was time to exercise our right. No matter your preference of voting, mail-in or booths, what you say and believe does carry weight. And if you want some funny laughs or just a different view then listen to S1E9 here.

Resources:

Gilberstadt, H., Hartig, H., Jones, B., Dunn, A., Doherty, C., Kiley, J., Daniller, A., Green, T., & Gomez, V. (2020, August 13). Election 2020: Voters Are Highly Engaged, but Nearly Half Expect To Have Difficulties Voting. Pew Research Center - U.S. Politics & Policy. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/08/13/election-2020-voters-are-highly-engaged-but-nearly-half-expect-to-have-difficulties-voting/

Dictionary.com. (2021, January 19). Absentee Ballot vs. Mail-In Ballot: Is There A Difference? https://www.dictionary.com/e/absentee-ballot-vs-mail-in-ballot/