Voting in America

An Inspection:

Popular Sovereignty: Rule by the People, or where, in America, all political power originates from, at least in theory. It was one of the most influential concepts during the formation of our Union, as proven by the opening of The Constitution: "We the People...", and is what empowers the people to enable a "...government of the people, by the people, for the people." Therefore, this idea of popular sovereignty is a critical one, which needs to be made apparent once again.

In terms of other countries, the U.S. voter turnout is very low comparatively ( http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/06/u-s-voter-turnout-trails-most-developed-countries/ ), with only 53.6% of the voting age population exercising their power in the 2012 presidential election. Sadly, the picture worsens: using 2008 presidential voter data, The Huffington Post found that the poor are much less likely to turnout to vote ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/01/voter-turnout-income_n_2790755.html ).

Here are two reasons, among many, as to why this is unsatisfactory:

1) For our democracy to function, we need as many people as possible to participate in the political process, to maintain our republic, to uphold the ideals of our Founding Fathers and of our prior presidents who sought to extend the right to vote to as many deserving people as possible.

2) If and when there are barriers to the voting process, we, as an obligation to our country and her ideals, should make voting as accessible to those who so wish to, so that backbone of democracy - voting - may continue to stand erect and stand against the challenges that threatens our country.

Many solutions have been proposed for this problem, of which I shall list a few and my reasons for the support of them:

1) Make Election Day a national holiday so that all those who seek to exercise their power, has every opportunity to do so. I'm sure you have heard the many stories of those who want to vote, but are unable to do so, due to barriers such as monetary reasons. Taking the time off to vote, for many, such as my mother, means losing time that could be earned as money, which would be used for food, bills, etc. She would love to vote, but making it to the next paycheck takes dominance over the aspiration of  voting. This, sadly, is true for many others.

2) Automatically Register those who turn 18 to Vote, unless they request not to. This would overcome the hurdle of the registration process, which would easily enable more people to enact on their power in the voting process.

3) Overturn voter ID laws within certain States. For many people, such as in large cities, they do not have a form of identification. In a big city with adequate public transportation, they do not require a driver's license - a common form of identification. If they wish to exercise their right to vote, and they do not have a form of identification in states that require additional ID when they vote, then this is yet another hurdle for Americans wishing to do so, and hurtful to democracy.

These are some of what I believe to be effective solutions to enable a greater number of people to act on their wishes to vote, to empower themselves and others, and to ultimately improve the State of Democracy within America.

Thank you for your time, and please respond with your thoughts on this matter. Until next time, adios!