In the midst of the results of the 2016 presidential election, protests and petitions have surfaced, claiming the election was unfair and isn't the true voice of the people. But do we even realize what the true voice of majority America is when only half of all eligible citizens are actually voting? Half the country isn't even giving their say officially to an election that not only is defining a nation, but also the relations of one of the major powers within the world. Is it time to change the way our voting system is structured or merely just change the way we view the responsibility of voting?

The People Have Spoken...Mostly

Although this election seems to have garnered the attention of our whole nation and the world, it wasn't successful in amping up voter turnout. In fact, it did the exact opposite. Voter turnout is at a twenty year low, with only 55% of eligible citizens voting. The last time the voter turnout was this low was in 1996 when around 53.5% of eligible citizens came out to vote. There isn't any major hurdles to overcome when it comes to registering to vote. Frankly it took me less than 5 minutes to register to vote online. So if it's not the challenge of registering that's keeping citizens from voting, what is?

There has been a lot of theorizing and studies conducted on why exactly voter turnout is so low in America. A major theory is that voters decide not to vote because they believe their votes won't count towards a major change, that the electoral college system is either defunct or corrupt and one vote will not change the end result of an election. In most elections, the electoral college allows for candidates to win votes by a large margin, with the winner taking all mentality driving candidates to focus on key battleground states rather than historically 'red' or 'blue' states. On the contrary, if we look back into the 2000 election between Bush and Gore, we can recall that a recount was the deciding factor of who would become president.

Another major reason cited is the people's disgust and disgruntled nature towards their government. Ever since the creation of institutions, there's always been a fight against "The Man." Especially in this recently decided election, a key factor to Donald Trump's campaign was tapping into the anger towards the 'old ways' of government. Theorists do disclaim this hypothesis due to the fact that our satisfaction with our overall government structure is relatively stable as compared to the satisfaction levels of other nations.

A supplemental reason for not voting, piggybacking on the previously stated reason, would be the voter's distrust and dissatisfaction towards their candidates running. The problem with this reasoning is that voters have the power to choose their candidates from the primary stage to the election day, but few actually do take the opportunity to cast their say along every stage of the election year. Voting for local government representatives as well as primary elections have the lowest turnouts of any electoral bidding. Perhaps it's because of the value we place on primaries and local government; the only time we are bombarded with media urging us to vote is when the presidential elections run every four years. If we only contribute our voices every four years, then we should only expect change every four years...which to be honest is unreasonable. We are a democratic nation who fought for our independence, the least we can do to show our gratitude for our freedom is to register ourselves to vote and educate ourselves on the elections of governments on all levels.

More Than A Civic Duty

In other nations such as Brazil, Argentina, and Australia, citizens are automatically registered to vote when eligible and are mandated to cast their ballots in elections. Punishments for not voting usually are incurred after 30 days and vary by country. Most commonly, fines are issued, which vary from around $1.25 in Brazil to over $1,000 in Luxembourg. If a fine fails to do the job, then incarceration under "contempt of court" can be issued to the non-voter in Australia if the fine is not paid within the deadline.

But does compulsory voting have lasting effects? The Netherlands abolished compulsory voting in the 1970's, and directly after their voter turnout rates declined sharply, suggesting that compulsory voting is only effective when enforced and has no lasting effects after being removed from the electoral process. Although it offers a valid solution for America's declining participation, drawbacks should also be considered.

Uninformed voters in terms of politics, may not be sure who to vote for and could either leave the ballot partially blank, vote based off of party lines, or the most troubling, cast their votes randomly. Unless voters seek out the information they need to make an informed decision, it is unlikely they will gather all the information necessary for all sides of issues to make a fully informed decision on the ballot. If a person casts their votes based off of what they see in the media and campaign ads, most likely their view will be skewed, due to the fact that TV stations, newspapers and media outlets all have their own political leanings and thus biases and sadly, most of the campaign ads in recent years have been focused on attack ads rather than the issues. Although compulsory voting is a viable solution, it offers the chance of having elections being swayed by random votes and half filled ballots rather than the true voice of the people.

A Right of Passage

The right to vote should be something celebrated. We celebrate the arrival of sixteenth birthdays with allowing children to take their drivers test, with some parents allowing their children to take the day off from school to celebrate, or in the case of the very fortunate, these young adults are gifted with their first cars. Why don't we have kids take the day off of school and go to their nearest board of elections and register to vote? Why isn't having the right to voice our opinion more celebrated? Americans love to express their right to the first amendment, their right to speech, but why is their right to a say in their government thrown to the back burner?

If we want to make real change within elections, rather than protesting the results of an election, we should look at where we contributed to the result. Only 55% of Americans voted, that means half of the people you meet in your everyday lives didn't vote in the election or weren't registered to vote. Did we stop and ask people way back in the beginning of the year if they were registered to vote? Did we ask our friends and peers if they had cast their ballot for the presidential primaries yet? A wave of change is not built upon effort gathered in a short amount of time. Just like a wave in the ocean, a wave of change needs consistent support throughout its journey in order to build its strength and momentum.