I don’t understand people who register to vote and then don’t. Ok, maybe it makes a little sense if mail-in ballots aren’t allowed, but that’s not the case in Washington state. Time is on the voters side.

And I can also understand, although I strongly disagree, with people like my wife who doesn’t register and doesn’t vote. At least these people are being consistent. I’ve been working on the voting thing with my wife to try and convince her of the importance of voting, how one vote can make a difference. It’s an uphill climb. You’d think it would be a lot harder convincing people who aren’t registered to vote to get registered and then start voting than to get the people already registered to vote.

You’d think.

And the day after the election I’m combing through the Washington state 2007 General Results and seeing that an abysmal 28.43% of the registered voters turned out to vote yesterday. That’s roughly 1 in 4 people who are registered to vote that aren’t doing it.

I don’t get it. Here’s a picture of the state’s results in case you didn’t follow the link above:

I’m starting to wonder what, if anything, I can do to encourage more of the registered voters in this state to vote? In our county alone there was less than the state average.

As readers following this blog closely know, I’m becoming more interested in politics in expectation of the 2008 Presidential election. I’m trying to become more educated about the issues and the candidates. At least in our area and state it appears voter turnout is another issue that needs focus. Should I be out with picket in hand on election day reminding folks to vote? I’ve never done any picketing, but wonder if that would work?

How was voter turnout in your area?

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