In a recent article submitted to the Bucks County Herald op-ed page by the Bucks County League of Women Voters (LWV) titled “Who didn’t vote in Bucks County,” the League addressed the fact that 1/3 of the citizens who were registered to vote in the November 2022 midterm election did not vote. This begs the question: given that you made the effort to register to vote, implying an intent to vote, why did you fail to vote?
To the LWV, which envisions “a democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge and the confidence to participate,” the fact that so many registered voters declined to participate in such an important election is troubling and puzzling. In an effort to gain some understanding of their reasons for declining to vote, the League asked Bucks County residents who did not vote to send an e-mail to the LWV, indicating why they did not vote.
To our dismay, we only received four e-mail responses from nonvoters. (1) One husband and wife (both age 71; both Republican) contracted COVID the preceding weekend. (2) One male (age 72; Republican) was unable to get to the polls due to a recent hip replacement. (3) A male (no other demographics given) didn’t vote because of his perception of the quality of the candidates.
“The Democrats and the Republicans are guilty of pushing self-serving greedy people in there that are running our country into the sewer.”
(4) A male (age 61, Independent) did not vote because, in his perception, the 2020 election was “wrought with fraud.”
“The lack of outrage from those charged with election integrity makes their complicity clear, which makes them liars. I distrust liars and see no reason to participate further.”
To summarize, 3 people did not vote because of health issues; 1 person because of the perceived quality of the candidates; and 1 person because of the perceived lack of integrity of elections.
In addition to the five registered voters who did not vote, a sixth respondent (male, age over 50, Republican) actually voted, but wanted to communicate to the Herald that they cannot claim to be nonpartisan if they “partner” (his word) with the League of Women voters, which also claims to be non-partisan. In a future article in the Herald, the LWV plans to address this issue, clarifying the League’s nonpartisan stance.
The request to respond to our survey was made in the Dec. 15 issue of the Herald. Given the busyness of the holiday season, perhaps responding to a survey was not high on people’s list of things to do. At any rate, in an effort to gain a better understanding and to increase the sample size, we are again asking readers of the Herald who did not vote to tell us why. The more respondents we get, the more dependable the data will be.
Simply send an e-mail to LWVBucksPA@gmail.com. In the subject line, type “WHY I DID NOT VOTE.” Then, in the body of your e-mail, complete this sentence: “I did not vote because…”. Also, please provide the following demographic information: (1) gender; (2) age; (3) political affiliation. (4) Finally, tell us if you are registered to vote. Do not include your name. Please send us your e-mail on or before Jan. 25. If you are aware of a friend, acquaintance or family member who did not vote in November, please give them this article and encourage them to respond. Thank you.
For information about the League of Women Voters, go to lwvbucks.org.
Cathy Morano is a member of the League of Women Voters of Bucks County, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to providing voter education and services and advocating for issues. It envisions a democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge and the confidence to participate.
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