The Pendragon's Hall

The Pendragon recently engaged in a bit of a discussion with fellow graduate students on the expansion of the suffrage in America. As usual, people were bemoaning the fact that only about 30% of voting-age Americans will actually vote in a midterm election. They compared this to the Jacksonian era where, supposedly, 90% of the voting population voted. This led the Pendragon to wonder if expanding the suffrage may actually have lowered the amount of participation. It seems counterintuitive but I raised the possibility and to my surprise my professor, a liberal luminary in his own right, agreed. He said that since women have gotten the vote and joined the workforce, fewer people actually vote, because the women, who were actually the backbone of political society in Jackson's time despite lacking suffrage, now are consumed with the day-to-day problem of earning a living. In the old days, women formed the issues that were decided in elections and then men went out and voted in them. Nowadays, special interest groups frame the issues and nobody votes. If this is a bad thing, maybe restricting the suffrage would be a good idea.

The Pendragon obviously does not think so. But it is intriguing that participation goes down the more people are allowed to participate. Prove them wrong this midterm Election Day; go vote!