THE IMPORTANCE OF VOTING by Rich Clark, Political Science Professor
After his primary losses on Super Tuesday in 2020, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders conceded that his campaign had not been, “as successful as I would hope in bringing young people in.” He added, “It is not easy.” Maybe it is not easy, but it is essential. EDUCATION AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT The great American philosopher, John Dewey, grew up in Vermont in the late 19th century and attended the University of Vermont before making his mark on American political thought. Mostly, Dewey is remembered for his contributions to the field of education. He believed that education is less about acquiring a fixed body of knowledge and more about developing skills in critical thinking and applying those skills as active citizens. Consequently, the value of education goes well beyond the individual benefits; an educated citizenry supports democratic norms and a more robust civic life. Dewey was a strong proponent of democracy as the best means for meeting the needs of the public. In his book, The Public and Its Problems (1927), Dewey tried to reconcile civic engagement in American democracy with the depersonalizing forces of industrialism and capitalism. While Dewey recognizes the importance of policy experts, he also argues that popular participation in government is necessary to uncover the problems we collectively face because experts will be too removed from the public to clearly see the problems people confront. “The man who wears the shoe knows best that it pinches and where it pinches, even if the expert shoemaker is the best judge of how the trouble is to be remedied” (p. 207). So it is at Castleton that we take up the mantle that fellow Vermonter Dewey passed along to educate our students to be active and effective citizens in our democratic government. While some students opt to pursue a Certificate in Civic Engagement as they build the skills of citizenship, selfadvocacy, and leadership, all students participate in the liberal arts foundation of a Castleton education through our General Education Program. One of the explicit goals of general education at Castleton University is that the program, “promotes students to be engaged as active citizens on campus and beyond.” 8 CASTLETON UNIVERSITY
vote! Perhaps the most basic act of citizenship is participation in the electoral process by voting. WHY IS VOTING IMPORTANT? Political scientists and civics educators often express the idea that voting is important without explaining why that is the case. To many students, and to too many Americans, voting appears to be fruitless and unlikely to make a difference. And yet, the 2016 presidential election hinged on approximately 78,000 votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, or less than 0.06% of the total votes cast in the presidential election. Putting aside presidential elections, there have been many elections at the state and local level where a single vote made the difference. In 2017, the 94th District of the Virginia House of Delegates, wherein 11,608 ballots were cast, resulted in a tie, and the winner was chosen by randomly drawing a name from a hat. More significantly, control of the House of Delegates depended on the outcome of the 94th district, as the Republicans held 50 seats and the Democrats 49. Most elections are not closely decided, but that does not mean that one’s vote does not matter. The very act of voting is a form of civic responsibility and the exercise of a right for which many American citizens had to fight. For many Americans, voting is their only form of civic engagement. As Americans, it is part of our common creed that government’s legitimacy is based on the consent of the governed. Yet, without any formal rites of citizenship or national service mandates, Americans who do not gain citizenship through the naturalization process never explicitly avow their consent to be governed; instead, we accept the idea of tacit consent. Voting is one of the few opportunities for most Americans to weigh in and express one’s preference on the direction of government, thereby recognizing the legitimacy of the government through participation in the process. I may be among the few who love the political campaign season. Campaigns are opportunities for political parties and office seekers to express visions of and ambitions for our collective lives, and as voters, we are able to question those candidates, express our own thoughts on the politics of the day, and eventually select whom we wish to represent us moving
