Talk Story
SATURDAY morning at 10, my wife and I stopped by the Kamiloiki Elementary School cafeteria to vote. While we were at it, we brought our old newspapers and aluminum cans along to drop off at the school's recycling bin. Election recap: Where
have all the voters gone?There were no lines. We quickly signed the book, stepped into booths, made our choices and slipped our ballots into the scanner. We were in and out in about five minutes, feeling virtuous and patriotic. According to the counter on the machine, ours were the 294th and 295th ballots cast.
That number seemed low since the polls had been open for three hours already. We stopped outside the polling place to look at the registration roll listing the "electors" assigned to our precinct.
I counted the names in one column and multiplied that by the number of columns per sheet and by the number of sheets. It came to about 2,400 names. At the rate of about 100 per hour, I calculated, only 1,100 votes would be cast. Of all the voters registered, I guessed, 46 percent would show up.
I mentioned this to a friend who lives in Palolo, which she swears is a hotbed of local politics. When she voted at 11 a.m. at her precinct -- after the polls had been open for four hours -- only 455 ballots had been cast.
My rough estimate came close to the actual numbers. According to the final official tally, only two out of five people registered to vote in Hawaii showed up at the polls, a pitiful 41.1 percent of 667,679.
SUNDAY evening, on the Price of Paradise radio show, Leslie Wilkins and Jeanne Ohta of the Hawaii Commission on the Status of Women and Pam Ferguson-Brey, a former HCSW commissioner, talked about the need to get women involved in the political process.
Despite the fact that Hawaii's next governor is certain to be a woman and that four of the seven top vote getters in Saturday's show-down are female (Karen Knudsen, 77,904 votes; Mazie Hirono, 76,685; Linda Lingle, 70,798; and Patsy Mink, 67,246), our guests said women have a long way to go in politics. European countries, for example, have a far greater percentage of elected female leaders, Ferguson-Brey said.
What's worse, the women's movement itself is rapidly graying. Wilkins bemoaned the fact that younger women simply aren't getting involved and the activists she sees tend to be in their 40s.
Perhaps the entire younger generation -- men and women both -- is content to sit back and enjoy benefits won by their elders?
I DON'T buy the argument that big football games and good weather kept people from voting. We'll turn that weather excuse around in November and blame a low turnout on the rain -- but we can't have it both ways.
There was some confusion -- political Darwinism at work, perhaps -- over where to vote in a few precincts. Some voters showed up in the wrong place despite news coverage of statewide redistricting and yellow cards mailed last June to every registered voter that specified their legislative, congressional and City Council districts, precinct, polling place address and other information.
When six out of ten voters ignore an election like this one, however, we have to wonder what's turning people off. To me, there's no mystery.
Modern campaigns sell sizzle, not steak. They've become exercises for advertising agencies, pollsters and campaign managers rather than a choice of ideas, character and vision. Most candidates articulate vague "messages" and avoid hard, divisive positions in favor of smiling the sincerest smile, waving the best signs and mouthing the catchiest slogans.
Unfortunately, the electorate is too media-savvy to buy what most campaigns are selling. Voters have heard it all before.
Most people hate being manipulated. Therefore, most people don't vote.
John Flanagan is the Star-Bulletin's contributing editor.
He can be reached at: jflanagan@starbulletin.com.