If I’m ever in the mood to annoy my good friend Ryan Lyons, I walk up to his desk and say, “Do you have a plan to vote in this upcoming election?” Usually, Ryan – who happens to be the Chairman of the Board of Elections in Fall River – either threatens to hit me or curses at me without fail. For someone tasked with leading an Elections Commission in a city of ninety-thousand, that type of reaction may seem ironic and even excessive, but for folks like Ryan, asking if somebody has plans to vote on Election Day is just outright offensive.
You see, Ryan is from that generation of Fall River kids who were raised by Irish-Catholic immigrants who committed to voting in every election come hell or high water. In Ryan’s household, voting was the lesser-known eighth sacrament. I mean, I would be remiss not to mention that missing an election, whether municipal or federal, was the quickest way to get a ticket to hell. Therefore, asking if Ryan’s grandparents or parents had a plan to vote was never really a question given the fact that they would be casting their ballots no matter what.
“In Ryan’s household, voting was the lesser-known eighth sacrament.”
In my home, my parents also made sure to emphasize the importance of voting to me, starting at a young age. I still have vivid memories of my dad asking me to join him in driving over to our polling place at Viveiros Elementary School to cast ballots in the pouring rain. If I was lucky, he would even let me place his vote in the ballot box. Although I was not of age at the time, going to the precinct with my dad on Election Day built up my excitement about one day being able to vote myself. Once I turned eighteen, I registered to vote and to this day (like my parents) I have yet to miss an election. I mean, I can only imagine what the response from my parents would be if I deliberately missed an election. I’m sure if Ryan’s grandparents were still around, he’d be forced to go to confession and pray a rosary as penance for missing out on an election; There simply wasn’t a choice.
“After all, just decades ago, Fall River was a city that proudly boasted turnouts of 60-70% in local elections. The generations of my parents and Ryan’s grandparents used to have voting in their DNA, yet, as of late, turnout in Fall River has been abysmal. Just two months ago, our primary for mayor and city council featured a 12% turnout.“
As I write this blog post, I look back on last week, when I worked as the precinct warden for Fall River’s municipal election. After polls closed at 8:00 PM, the final count at my precinct was 444. Throughout the day, I picked up on the trend that each time a voter cast their ballot and saw how low the count was, they would say, “It’s a shame” or “That’s lower than I expected.” After all, just decades ago, Fall River was a city that proudly boasted turnouts of 60-70% in local elections. The generations of my parents and Ryan’s grandparents used to have voting in their DNA, yet, as of late, turnout in Fall River has been abysmal. Just two months ago, our primary for mayor and city council featured a 12% turnout. I mean, how can you even fix that?
In the same way that people shouldn’t need to be told to wash their hands after using the restroom, it should just be customary that folks turnout to the polls on Election Day, no matter if it is a municipal or presidential election. Non-profit organizations and activist groups can create as many infographics and posters as they want on how they will “Get out the vote”, but turnout will never be sufficient until the act of voting is internalized and routinized. Too often, voting is taken for granted and treated as a chore, when, in reality, it is our civic duty. To truly get a civically engaged population, we need to expect voters to turnout on Election Day instead of asking them if they plan to is a critical first step. To be frank, asking “Do you have a plan to vote in this upcoming election?” will continue to be an ineffective question until the conversation shifts to “How do you plan to vote this upcoming election?”. Just like how we expect our fellow bathroom-goers to wash their hands after they use the restroom, we have to start expecting our fellow voters to turnout and contribute to the democratic process.
kyleneves.org 