THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE MADISON TIMES WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

 

Every vote still counts
by Marc H. Morial

Does every vote count, or only those for the candidate who won?

In the wake of this month’s momentous presidential election, some commentators want to rewrite the rules of American politics. They’re making believe that American political elections are a zero-sum, winner-takes-all, loser-gets-none game.

Yes, the majority of the American electorate has spoken, and its votes have returned President Bush to office. But no one should forget that at least 115 million — maybe as high as 120 million — American voters cast their ballots in this election, and each and every vote, the voice of an American citizen, does count.

Under those rules, there are numerous facets of the vote for the White House, in addition to the ultimate tally, that deserve proper consideration. One is realizing that this campaign energized the American electorate as a whole more than any other in decades. Latino voting nationwide appears to have increased from nearly 6 million four years ago to at least 7.5 million this year; and the number of African Americans voting may have increased by as much as 25 percent, to more than 13 million.

Haven’t political scientists, historians, journalists, and political junkies in general been bemoaning the long-term decline in voter participation for years? Well, here’s proof that we don’t have to accept that decline as inevitable. Haven’t we at the National Urban League been vigorously calling for Americans to become more politically aware and active, as part of a broader campaign of civic engagement? Well, we got our wish, as far as this campaign and election was concerned.

Of course, there is a great deal more to do to stimulate greater civic participation among Americans, especially among the poor and working poor. We’ve got to do better at making them realize that civic engagement is a matter not just of altruism, but of self-interest as well. Also, in that regard, there remains much to do to resolve many of the issues that were really at the heart of the electoral campaign: Stimulating jobs that pay decent wages, resolving the pension and health-benefits crisis, making access to a quality education a reality for more children, and so on.

The problems America faces, abroad and on the home front, aren’t going away just because this election has been decided. Nonetheless, there remains much about this election worth celebrating and taking inspiration from. For example, young adults ages 18 to 29 turned out to vote in more substantial numbers this time — nearly 21 million — than in any election since 18-year-olds gained the right to vote in 1972. Indeed, there was a 4.7 million-vote increase over the 2000 youth vote. This was the first time a majority (51.6 percent) of those in this age group eligible to vote actually did so.

The youth-vote totals  surpassed even the goals set by such youth-focused voter-registration efforts as Rock The Vote campaign, MTV’s “Choose or Lose” campaign, and the respective efforts of rap impresarios Russell Simmons and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.

No less an authority on the importance of the right to vote than Andrew Young, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and one of the Martin Luther King Jr.’s chief strategists, applauded their efforts, calling them “cultural trailblazers for the voice[s] of many young Americans who otherwise might not have exercised their right to vote” this November.

Of course, no one knows if this interest in who our political representatives are and this commitment to voting will be sustained among these new voters. It’s the task of those of us who do have that commitment to see that it is; and we need not pretend that the job will be an easy one. But certainly we should take the fact of the increased participation of these three groups alone — in a nation in which the young and people of color are becoming more numerous — as inspiration to redouble, not lessen, our efforts.

Speaking of the youth vote efforts, former U. N. Ambassador Young said, “I hope the commitment of the hip-hop generation [to participate in politics and vote] is for the long haul …”

That same hope — and command — applies to all of us.

Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League.