You probably heard about the long lines on Tuesday at voting locations throughout the Pittsburgh area, leading to traffic backups not seen since the Pirates' Opening Day game.
OK, I made that up.
In reality, voting turnout for the primary in Allegheny County is being estimated at 15 percent, according to early Elections Division results. In case you missed it — and based on the numbers, you probably did — among the contested races was the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania governor.
That bait attracted only 20.4 percent of the county's registered Democratic voters to the polls. Republicans showed their enthusiasm with an estimated 10.6 percent showing at county polls.
Not to get all retro on you, but there was a time in our country's history when activists risked their lives and freedom to ensure that people were not turned away from a voting booth because of race or gender. These days, people are a bit more … lax. How do we change that?
Some voting rights advocates say it might be time to move Election Day from a Tuesday because it's difficult for some people to get away on a workday, and the idea of waiting in a line to vote before or after work is a deterrent.
The Pirates' home opener is always on a work day, yet people wait in traffic for hours to get there and then again at the concessions inside. But strangely, every year on Opening Day, the North Side becomes a parking lot because there are about a million people in the area who have decided the inconvenience is worth it.
What does that tell you? It tells me the passion for taking part in our political process is gone, with the exception maybe of the race for president. (Even that only attracted 58.2 percent of registered voters nationally in 2012.) I think it's gone because voters feel that their local, state and Congressional representatives don't necessarily represent them. I think it's gone because when they turn on the TV and see a campaign ad, it's light on information and heavy on name-calling.
Charles Zelden, a humanities professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who teaches about voting rights and election law, disagrees. He says the problem is not that voters lack faith in the process.
“There's a loss of dedication to a party,” he said, making it more difficult to rally the troops to support their favorite candidate.
Zelden said the solution isn't necessarily weekend voting because it would likely be expensive to implement. No state has even tried it, largely for that reason. But he said he supports early voting, because it makes it more convenient for people to cast ballots. It's allowed in 32 states — Pennsylvania isn't one of them.
“The individual voter has to be motivated to come out to vote,” Zelden says. Without a compelling draw like a presidential race, he said, those who aren't dedicated to vote won't pay attention.
“You have people saying, ‘Today is Election Day?' ”
Nafari Vanaski is a staff writer for Trib Total Media.
