The Worst Voter Turnout in 72 Years

Noah Colby-George, 3, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/opinion/the-worst-voter-turnout-in-72-years.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

The editorial’s central claim is that not enough people showed up for the midterm elections that took place earlier this month

In 43 states, less than half the population eligible to vote did any such thing. In California, Texas, and New York, the three largest states, less than a third of the eligible voting population voted. The national voting turnout was 36.3%. Only the 1942 federal midterm election had a lower turnout at 33.9%.

I think this is much too low of a voter turnout. Yes, there are some people who are too lazy to vote no matter what the situation is, but I think this is largely the fault of the campaigning process and the recent success or lack thereof shown by Congress. The people have to be inspired to vote, and voting for people who attack the opposition relentlessly or who are tied to corporations/people who paid for his or her campaign is not exactly galvanizing. Legislative members are more concerned with making sure nothing good happens to members of their opposing party than working together to solve our nations issues. Who wants to vote for that? This is not to say that abstaining from voting is a solution to these problems, but steps could be taken by those running for government positions to make showing up to the polls more appealing to people who are on the fence about whether to vote or not.