Smoothing the Way to the Polls

Voter apathy? It’s just not that simple. For nearly a year now, I’ve been overseeing a nonpartisan voter education and mobilization program in lowincome L.A. communities where voter turnout is lowest. I’ve learned that what some people call “voter apathy” is a misnomer that masks a whole range of problems and discontents.

As the director of LibertyVote!, I work with about a dozen community organizations in Pico-Union, downtown Los Angeles, South L.A., Boyle Heights and Pacoima. A recent survey of California voters by the California Voter Foundation reinforces much of what I’ve learned from working with these groups. The survey found that the main reason why infrequent voters don’t go to the polls is because they’re “too busy.” More than half of infrequent voters and nonvoters in California work more than 40 hours a week; 16% of infrequent voters work more than 50 hours a week.

What I saw in the November elections and again this past March made clear to me that many prospective but infrequent voters don’t know that their employers are obliged to give them time off to vote or they don’t exercise this right for fear it would jeopardize their jobs. Nor do most of them know about absentee ballots or how to get one, according to the survey.

The lack of easy-to-understand information is also an obstacle. Sure, the government sends out a pamphlet for each election. It’s about as reader-friendly as a mortgage contract, and about as long.

For each of the last three elections, LibertyVote! published a voter guide. The one for the May 17 mayoral runoff election is 12 pages. It’s in English and Spanish. And this time we experimented. We included information about the mayor’s jurisdiction over housing, economic development, the environment, etc. It’s turned out to be the most popular part of the whole guide.

Our extra effort to engage people -- keeping the guide short and simple, on glossy stock and in full color -- reminded me of my experience knocking on doors last fall. People were surprised, and grateful, that we were making the extra effort to knock on their doors. They were especially delighted that someone -- particularly someone without a campaign ax to grind -- was trying to get them involved.

From now until election day, energized volunteers working with nonprofits groups such as ACORN, the L.A. Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, the Los Angeles Community Action Network, the Bus Riders Union, Union de Vecinos and the Korean Resource Center will be out knocking on doors again.

But the challenge is even greater than it was in March. Voters are pooped! The United States has more frequent and complicated elections than any other democracy on the planet. In March, voters felt as if they had just come off the November election. Now, voters don’t really understand why they are voting for mayor. Again. With off-election years no more, campaign mode is constant. And with the burden of nonpartisan civic engagement falling squarely on the shoulders of nonprofits chronically strapped for resources, the “constant campaign” is a huge drain on staff and money.

As a nation, we say we’re pro-election, but we could do so much more to make it easy to vote and create a culture of civic participation. Instant-runoff voting would help ease voter fatigue. Weekend voting would make it easier to eliminate work-schedule conflicts. Reducing the number of poll location changes so that polling places are consistent would ease confusion as voters try to locate their polling places. Easy-to-understand, multilingual voting information is essential. Why not free bus transportation for anyone sporting an “I Voted” sticker?

We teach our schoolchildren that democracy works best when every eligible voter is involved. But we need to do much more to make it real.

Kafi Blumenfield is the director of LibertyVote!, a democracy-building program in Los Angeles funded by the Liberty Hill Foundation.