Get Out the Vote?

As this election goes down to the wire, local and national media outlets - even in 'safe' states like Virginia - are buzzing about how high turnout will be. How high? Maybe as high as 60% of eligible voters!

Over the years, many have decried the lack of interest in American elections and proposed ways to solve it. When 50% is considered the benchmark for turnout in an average race (40% during midterms), there's obviously a huge number of non-voters. America isn't the only country to struggle with this question: Switzerland has the most direct democracy, the most chances to vote, and the lowest turnout in Europe (typically 50%). Australia fines all who fail to vote. Bolivia issues identity cards at the polling places without which you may not buy gas, eggs, or milk for three weeks after the election. Syria votes for you if you don't show up.

Should America pursue such measures? There's certainly an argument for any given state to do so; that would guarantee more attention during an election and more ad dollars, since there would be a massive number of new, undecided voters.

On the other side of the debate, however, are those realists who ask the question, "Do we really want our leaders picked by people so uninformed and uninvolved that the don't vote?" Point taken. But there are still a lot of unheard voices of folks who do care - but don't think their vote counts.

To solve this problem, InstantReplay has come up with a compromise: Whining Licenses. At each polling place, issue every voter a standard Whining License. For the next four years, anyone whining about the government can be challenged to show their License. If they don't have one, they're not allowed to whine. At midterm elections, it would be stamped with an update, renewing your right to Congressional Whining for two more years. This wouldn't affect those who truly don't care or don't know. If they don't know enough to vote, they probably won't find out about the Whining Licenses.

As a test case, InstantReplay will be issuing Virtual Whining Licenses to all regular readers. If you vote tomorrow, shoot me an email telling me the location of your polling place. I'll issue Whining Licenses valid on InstantReplay only; anyone who reads this post but fails to vote is not eligible to post comments about the government until November, 2008.