I was flipping through the channels last night and caught the tail end of a conversation where it was suggested voters should be tested on their knowledge of the candidates prior to voting. Of course the reaction to this was not favorable, but I’ve been thinking about it and it makes some sort of sense.
The reason it makes sense is because there are people who vote for their party of choice without knowing where the particular candidate stands on the issues. Some of these same people are so wrapped up in a particular party they won’t even take time to learn where the opposition stands. If people are voting on issues they know nothing about, how legitimate are the vote?
I’ve spoken with people who go to polling places and try to convince people to vote for a particular candidate because people show up to vote without even knowing who they will be voting for. If a person’s opinions can be swayed so easily at the last moment, how legitimate is the vote? How much thought could they have put into their vote.
To have a percentage of votes cast by people with very little knowledge about what they are voting for is a little concerning, especially when elections are as close as this one seems to be and the last one was.
But then again, does it really matter if people know what they are voting for?
posted @ Friday, October 22, 2004 6:58 PM