By Ashley Vasquez

In today's turbulent political and social landscape, our democracy is undergoing a rigorous examination. The effectiveness of our system's checks and balances is being called into question. While some view it as slow or overly bureaucratic, it's crucial to understand that the solution lies in the act of voting. Each vote, though seemingly insignificant on its own, joins with others to influence the course of laws and policies, shaping the trajectory for current and future generations.  

So, what actions has New York State undertaken to encourage voter turnout? 

NYC Votes is a program proposed by The New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB), which has been working to enhance voter participation at the local level, particularly targeting communities with low voter turnout rates. Through extensive print advertising campaigns, they've spread the message "Get-Out-the-Vote" across various platforms. This includes online, TV, radio, and public spaces, reaching millions of New Yorkers in five languages for both the August primary and November general elections. To engage a younger demographic, digital ads are used on popular social media platforms. Additionally, they employed resources like print voter guides, the online platform nycvotes.org, emails, text messages, social media, community outreach, direct voter engagement, and a youth ambassador program.  

Another noteworthy organization is VoteEarlyDay.org, which aims to raise awareness among all Americans about the significance of voting early. They provide resources such as state-specific voting rules, a vote early day voter tool to locate voting locations, times, election deadlines, and other helpful benefits.  

The CFB also generates a comprehensive voter analysis report using detailed data collected during the election period. They use two distinct types of files obtained from The NYC Board of Elections to evaluate voter engagement. The first file, the active file, contains relevant voter profile information such as address, date of birth, date of voter registration, gender, and political districts. The second file tracks the voting history of individual voters. Both files utilize a unique serial number known as CountyEMSID to identify registered voters across the city. 

Now let's take a closer look at the election data from the CFB's voter analysis report for the years 2022-2023. Specifically, this data concentrates on analyzing the participation rates and turnout among different age groups. 

Young voters were actively engaged during special elections on December 22, 2020, February 2, 2021, and March 22, 2022. Their turnout remained consistent at 12.5% during the general election in 2022. This increased engagement might have been influenced by various issues at the time, such as concerns about the threat to abortion rights, high crime rates, or worries about inflation affecting the affordability of essentials. However, their commendable participation and decision to vote deserve recognition, regardless of the reasons.  

Another surprising fact emerges: the Bronx consistently records the lowest turnout rate in the General Elections of 2014, 2018, and 2022, compared to all other boroughs a trend mirrored in the 2024 Presidential Primary. Given the Bronx's existing marginalized status, having constituents absent at the polls only exacerbates its marginalization. 

Accessing the ANES 2024 Pilot Study's selected questions, utilizing shading and grouping features revealed intriguing findings. Most respondents were women from the South, aged around 61, with a high school education as the most common, followed by those with a four-year degree. Around 84.6% were registered voters, primarily female and conservative-leaning third-generation immigrants. Notably, when asked about abortion handling, the majority favored Democrats.  

This complex factor is that despite the city’s effort to promote voting through various tools, the actual turnout remains consistently low compared to the number of registered voters. To boost voter engagement, the city could consider reintroducing civic education into school curricula. For instance, understanding the three branches of power and acknowledging that for a bill to become law, it must receive approval from the House, Senate, and Presidency. 

Actively engaging in local assemblies and connecting with district representatives can also help foster change. Refusing to vote as a political statement not only weakens democracy but also undermines our fundamental freedom—the freedom to choose. Therefore, in this age of rampant misinformation and propaganda, it's more important than ever to fulfill our civic duty by voting.