The Vanishing Voter

Chapter One

Chapter One: The Incredible Shrinking Electorate

I've lost interest in voting. -twenty-six-year-old Pennsylvania voter

I just don't vote. -twenty-five-year-old North Carolina resident

I don't have any time, and I'm not interested anyway. -forty-year-old Washington resident

I don't see any reason to vote. -thirty-year-old Wisconsin resident

Sam Roberts, a Miami resident, was kicking himself. A Gore supporter, he had not voted in the 2000 presidential election. "I should have voted," Roberts told a reporter. "Had planned to but didn't get around to it. Dumb."

With the outcome of the 2000 election hanging by the thread of a few hundred votes in Florida, citizen regret was widespread. Nearly half of adult Americans had not voted, and a CNN poll indicated most of them wished they had.

Even if more people go to the polls in the next election, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, could have that effect, the long-term prospects are anything but bright. The voting rate has fallen in nearly every presidential election ... read full excerpt from: The Vanishing Voter ebook