Voter Turnout & Expectations

Political speculators have been trumpeting the expected record voter turnouts for our current Presidential election. After voting today and experiencing the gathered masses of the voting public and hearing extensive reports of the record absentee and early voting periods, I would comfortably say we are going to see an obliteration of the largest total amount of votes cast by our American citizens. At least the current campaign has sparked the interest of the American public to utilize their most important tool available to them, their right to vote.

When we utilize our right to vote, it forces the candidates to acknowledge the desire and needs of the American citizens. When voter apathy keeps the voter from the polling booth, they are effectively giving away their chance to be heard. Votes are all the political party care about. Polls on issues are one thing. Polls from likely voters are another. Polls from people who will not cast their vote are just a complainer, but polls of likely voters are direction and campaign deciders.

Today, we are hearing that we can expect over 140 million votes cast. In our history, the most votes we tallied came in 2004 with over 122 million. Speaking in terms of percentage of available voters, we are nearing record levels in that arena also. Our nation is expecting the highest percentage of voter age citizens casting their votes since 1960 and maybe even more. In 1960, over 63% of the available public voters cast their vote.

These two campaigns have been able to shake up the apathetic voter bases. At least that is one great accomplishment from this political endeavor even if neither one of them carries out their promises once elected. I said earlier that the political parties must acknowledge the desires and needs of the American voting public because the record turnout carries with it a double edged sword.

On one hand, the candidate who has garnered the support of so many new registrants and attracted so many previously apathetic individuals back to the polls will experience the needed push to win the office of President. On the other, now that they have been voted into office, the public expects them to come through on their promises. Yes, the candidate will win office because of the grass roots injection of voting significance, but fail at carrying through on the campaign promises and you will forever lose their newfound support.

Think about it this way. You promise your mom and dad that you will care for a new puppy and that you will feed it, clean up its messes, and take care of its health issues because you REALLY want a puppy. You will do ANYTHING to get that puppy so you agree to a litany of new rules and regulations handed down by your parents. It’s ok… all that stuff is secondary because you are getting what you KNOW you HONESTLY want… a puppy. But we all know how the story goes. A few days, weeks, or even months pass and the puppy gets big and less fun. It becomes more of a “job.” The promise of happiness that came with the puppy has all of a sudden lost its luster and it just isn’t worth the effort anymore. The puppy has not carried through on your individual idea of what the future would be.

In the end, the puppy must go because you are no longer effective at caring for it and your parents will not take care of your mistake. Obama is our “new puppy” (and no I’m not calling him a dog, you can insert new toy or whatever THING you feel may be personally palatable into this analogy). We see this new politician promising such great things for those who vote for him that our future without him cannot ever be as bright with a replacement. We will agree to a litany of rules and regulations that his party requires us to do for the completion (maybe) of his campaign promises.

Over time, the voting public will have a choice to make. Is Obama carrying through on his promises or did he lead the newfound voting masses like lemmings to a cliff? We all know politicians lie and they hardly ever carry through on their campaign promises because if their predecessors had carried through, we would have a much different political and social landscape. They just cannot satisfy their daunting promises.

So, assuming Obama wins which is the most likely scenario, how many promises does he have to break in the next four years before the very voting public that carried him into office reject his candidacy and look for an alternative? If you promise millions of people something and do not come through, the edge of the sword is sharp and cuts very deep. Obama while becoming a rock star in many of our eyes will have assumed a mountain’s weight of expectation. Fail to satisfy those promises and President Obama could be become an utter failure in the eyes of the world and our nation.