Journalism Assignment for Greg Allard:

Despite Record Turnouts, Voters Remain Frustrated

In a climate where people want change from the cliché business as usual politics, it doesn't take a learned political philosopher to understand that people are becoming more and more frustrated with the voting process.

Despite the urging of many voters' rights groups like Rock the Vote, and a political season where more voters turned up at the polls than ever before, many people are still feeling frustrated about their impact and choices at the voting booth. Even in a climate where many people are excited about the election of the first African-American candidate Barrack Obama, there appears to be a desire to revamp the entire system.

According to a survey conducted by Gargs Polls, an independent polling giant in Gainesville, Fla., over 90 percent of those questioned thought the electoral system was no longer viable. It was nearly unanimous for those surveyed in Pacific Time Zone states, who think they often have less influence than their Eastern Time Zone counterparts concerning election results.

"As a registered Democrat, I sometimes wonder how much my vote really makes a difference," said Martin Lewis, an insurance salesman from Santa Cruz, Calif. "By the time I get out of work, the national election is often [already] decided, so I tend to not bother."

"The states already elect representatives in the House and Senate but election of President is a national matter," said mortgage broker Charles Hodgson of Chula Vista, Calif. "Why the presidential election is not decided by the popular vote is beyond me."

In a state where the vast majority of the people are registered Democrats, this is no small matter. By the time members of the Democratic party get to the polls in California, where Democrats hold an almost 20 percent majority over Republicans, they end up standing in line for a vote that won't matter.

"It feels like coming to bat in the top of the ninth inning with my team ahead 14-2," said Hodgson. "If I hit a home run or strike out on three pitches, it won't matter one bit, so why even try?"

If the overall popular vote was close, however, then people like Hodgson's vote would count, no matter what was happening in California.

Another concern is the perceived disenfranchisement of independent voters. Of the independent voters who participated in the survey, over 90 percent believed that third parties should have more of a voice in the election process. Voters are often hesitant to cast a vote for a third party because they are afraid they will play spoiler and elect an undesirable candidate.

During the early years of the nation, many founding fathers did not subscribe to the overall concept of political parties. In fact, the country's first president, George Washington, was elected as an independent candidate in 1788. As it turned out, however, he was to be the first and last independent elected president in the nation's history.

In 1792, Alexander Hamilton founded America's first political party called the Federalist Party. That same year, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, in response to Hamilton, founded the Democratic-Republican Party. Though party names and policies have morphed over the years, the American political landscape has been dominated by a two-party system ever since.

"In the year 2000 I went with my conscience and voted for Ralph Nader," said Kenneth Solomon, an University of Florida librarian. "My second choice would have been Al Gore. So, for the last eight years I have felt a mojor responsibility for electing the buffoon George Bush."

Indeed, according to the survey, 95 percent of the participants believed that Ralph Nader's Green Party candidacy swung the national election in favor of George Bush in the year 2000. Statistics back that up considering Nader won 97,488 votes in Florida, a state where Bush is purported to have defeated Gore by a mere 537 votes.

According to Fairvote.com, the two-party system has many disadvantages. Issues like tie-breaking minor parties, uneven congressional representation, and easy corruption from campaign contributions have left voters feeling frustrated and confounded. Therefore, the organization is an advocate of the ranked voting system.

The concept of ranked voting, which allows for voter preference of first, second and third ranked votes, has long been a part of the election processes in both Australia and Ireland. In the year 2007, the system has also been used in some capacity for local elections in Cary, and Hendersonville, N.C., Burlington, Vt., and Takoma Park, Md. In San Francisco it was utilized for the last mayoral election.

According to the Gargs survey less than 10 percent of those polled knew what ranked voting was. After it was explained, more than 80 percent thought it should be considered in upcoming elections in the United States.

"Anything that opens up the political process to more fairness I'll back all the way," said Frank Lenna, a church administrator in Hartford, Conn.

Opponents of ranked voting say that the process is too complicated and difficult to understand for the average voter. Journalist Allison Fine investigated the 2007 San Franciscan mayoral election:

Each voter received a ballot from one of the poorly-trained high school kids who didn't mention anything to them about how the syste m worked. The ballot has three long columns, each identical. A voter is supposed to mark their first, second, and third choices from left to right. Of the fifteen voters I watched fill out the ballot, two did it right, and the rest split between marking the same person three times or marking their first choice once in the column and leaving the second two columns blank.

-Fine, Allison. "Voting machines Equal Headaches"
Nov. 26, 2007. Huffington Post, ..ww.huffingtonpost.com/Allison-fine/voting-machines-headache>;

An exit poll designed by North Carolina State assistant professor of political science, Michael Cobb, disagrees. In the poll, Cobb found 96 percent of the voters thought the voting system in Cary was at least somewhat easy to understand.

According to Votefair.com, there is a distinctive difference between voting machines being "ranked-ballot compatible" and "machine-ready." It appears that in order to even start to consider using ranked voting methods in widespread elections, voting machines would have to be both compatible and ready in time for any particular election. In addition, voting volunteers would need to be properly trained to show voters how to use them.