On our recent visit to Guatemala, I was tasked with sorting through Dad’s room. I made a dent, but barely touched the books; as a retired librarian, he had an extensive personal library. I did find a couple interesting reads, and started one of them before the return trip – Snakes and Ladders: Glimpses of Modern India, by Gita Mehta. The extent of my knowledge of Indian history is limited to having read The Far Pavilions a couple times; anything beyond that is random bits and pieces that I’ve heard throughout the years.
Snakes and Ladders was published in 1997, so modern in the title does not necessarily reflect current. The book covers significant events and Indian culture from Indian independence in 1947 to what was current day, including the advent of the internet. There were many things that stood out in this book, not the least of which was “…seventy percent of the Indian electorate avails itself of such consolation [of voting the ] at every general election.”
Seventy percent.
The last presidential election in the United States had a 55.5 percent turnout. India, with four times our population, 900 million of them eligible to vote, still manages to engage their voters – according to Wikipedia, their 2019 election had over 67 percent voter turnout. The last time the United States had that high a turnout was the early 1900s.
According to the author, for the 1989 election, there was one booth for every thousand voters, “from the inaccessible mountains of Ladakh on the very borders of Tibet to the farthest desert areas of Rajasthan on the borders of Pakistan to the southern coasts of Karala on the edge of the Indian Ocean.” Reports of voter suppression and disenfranchised voters have filled the news in the last couple U.S. elections. India as a democracy is almost 200 years younger than the United States, with more than triple the number of eligible… perhaps we need to do better?
How? What a fabulous question. While I agree with the concept of a national holiday for election day, there are viable options now that make that a moot point.
- Automatic voter registration. Voting is not just a right of citizenship, it’s an obligation. The government collects enough information about each of us already, between taxes, driver’s license, and other official records, that they should be able to handle this without us having to opt in.
- Early voting. Illinois has amazing early voting options, which I have availed myself of the last few elections. The option to vote at select locations a month ahead of election day (including some weekend hours) provides flexibility for my work schedule.
- Vote by mail. In Illinois, this is primarily used for absentee ballots and people who for health reasons can’t get to the polls, but Oregon, Washington, and Colorado have switched to voting by mail being the standard. To be honest, this is a more economical solution than early voting, with the added bonus of supporting the post office.
- Accessibility. There is no good excuse for our government to fumble elections so badly that people wait in line for hours to vote. Voting places should be placed appropriately for all voters, so that they’re accessible and efficient.
Let’s be more like India, making it reasonably easy to avail ourselves of the option to vote in each election. Let us “… enjoy that supreme consolation of freedom – kicking the bums out.” (While keeping the good ones, of course.)