EDUCATION FOR ACTION: AN EXPERIMENT ABOUT

INCREASING VOTER PARTICIPATION

by Prof. Harry Targ, PhD Department of Political Science

Purdue University

Recently I visited with a progressive friend in Wisconsin. I asked him if Russ Feingold has a chance of being reelected to the Senate in the 2016 election. He said that most Wisconsin voters do not know that Feingold is not one of their senators. This lack of awareness of who is or is not one of the states senators may have several explanations.

1. The Ignorant Voter Model A long-held view of academic experts is that the information, awareness, and interest of most voters in politics are limited. This might be called the ignorant voter model. There may be some truth to this claim but it is a mistake to blame the voter without considering the context in which politics works

2. The Cynical Voter Model Another explanation for the limited knowledge and participation of citizens in politics emphasizes the fact that for many citizens the electoral arena is seen as of limited consequence to peoples lives. Politicians run public relations campaigns. They lie. They make all sorts of promises. Both parties really stand for the same things. And, in the end, this view suggests, nothing ever changes. This interpretation represents the cynical voter model.

3. The Selective Voter Model A third model explains significant differences in voter participation to the differences in periodic elections. More voters turnout for presidential elections than off-year elections. Voters are least likely to go to the polls for primary elections, municipal and county elections, or elections for school boards. This explanation constitutes a selective voting model.

4. The Media Manipulation Model A fourth perspective emphasizes the lack of information, misinformation, and lies communicated by a media that is top-down, controlled by a handful of global corporations, and motivated by commercial success not providing useful information. This explanation, the media manipulation model

does a better job capturing some of the context in which most people engage in or ignore politics but also is limited.

Political Behavior Each of these perspectives has something to do with political behavior. Yes, some citizens are ill-informed. Others are informed but cynical. Often voters have interests in some elections but not others. Still more true is the argument that Americans are barraged with 24/7 newscasts that ignore important stories, lie about them, or communicate information about violence, sexuality, and celebrities instead of information, primarily to get viewers or readers to buy products not inform.

5. Education For Action Model A fifth model, the education for action model, takes account of the four explanations above but has embedded within it the proposition that political actors can have some role to play in informing the public, convincing them that their cynicism is dangerous to their futures, and providing an understanding of what can be done politically to better serve their interests.

An Example of Education For Action One example of the education for action model was developed by Dan Isaacson, publisher and editor of The Democratic Voter and The Enlightened Voter, monthly newsletters distributed to prospective voters in Precinct 4178, Palm Beach County, Florida (www.VoterEducation.net).

Voter Education Project Isaacson launched a voter education/participation project in 2014 to see if providing regular information about the electoral process, important issues, and candidate positions could increase voter participation in the precinct in which he worked as a Democratic Party organizer.

The Director of Project 4178 knew that face-to-face conversations with prospective voters were an ideal way to communicate information and to try to convince people to vote. But, in an average precinct (Isaacsons consisted of 714 registered Democrats, 533 independents, and 636 Republicans), the possibilities of having meaningful dialogue about the political process seemed low. And television ads, robo calls, flyers, and other fleeting visual or oral forms of communication were usually ignored.

Targ - Education for Action Blog

Monthly Newsletter In 2014, voters registered as Democrats or Independents, in Precinct 4178 received a monthly newsletter. Two additional newsletters were sent just before each of three elections. Registered Democrats received The Democratic Voter and Independents received The Enlightened Voter. These monthly newsletters presented in clear, concise copy, information about the election, candidates, and why voting was important. When email addresses were available the newsletters were sent electronically; when not they were sent by mail.

Newsletter Format The newsletters were guided by the need for:

large print, frequent paragraphs, short sentences, easy reading level, eye-catching, bold typeface lead-in phrases

to most paragraphs.

The June, 2015 issue of The Enlightened Voter included articles from various sources:

on the low production of the Florida legislature,

on what would happen if women controlled the global economy,

on for profit college math, on a museum devoted to the reexamination

of slavery, on the performance of Governor Scott, and on data on voter participation of readers

of the newsletter.

It had an attractive eight-page layout and six talking points from the articles that appeared in the issue.

Voter Turnout Comparison Comparing voter average turnouts in Palm Beach County precincts with those in Precinct 4178, for a number of elections: municipal, judicial, and statewide, the difference in participation rates were stark. For example, turnout for municipal elections in March, 2014 was a third higher in Precinct 4178. Precinct 4178 turnout for an August, 2014 primary election was 71 percent higher than the average of other precincts. And for the gubernatorial race in November, 2014, Precinct 4178 had a 19 per cent higher turnout rate than the average of the rest of Palm Beach County.

Results of Study Along with building a data-base of voters in the Precinct, reaching out to independent voters, publishing a useful newsletter, Isaacson suggested that the experiment demonstrated that the Voter Publications education tools increases unengaged-voter turnout by between 20% and 70% over the usual methods currently used (tv, radio, phone calls and door knocking nagging).

The Isaacson experiment raises several ideas of relevance to progressives:

Realistic Assumption First, Project 4178 begins with a realistic assumption about the prospects of communicating with masses of voters in an effective way. Given available resources, intensive interactions with large numbers of voters and other potential activists is limited. Matching multi-million dollar campaigns based on advertising, robo calls, and influencing media content is virtually impossible. In fact, the millions spent on elections and issue campaigns do not appear to affect active voter participation, but rather induce non-participation which is probably what most political organizations prefer anyway.

Mobilizes Masses of People Second, given limited resources and the forces arrayed against encouraging intelligent voting and other participation, only systematic, clear dissemination of information about the political process can yield a more informed citizenry and engaged politically active public. This may be relevant to those who are primarily engaged in revitalizing the electoral process but might also be relevant for those who wish to mobilize masses of people to fight racism, sexism, the military-industrial complex, and the effort to destroy the labor movement.

Political Education Matters If the Project 4178 findings can be generalized from one locale to a nation, the main point would be that an effective, mass campaign of political education matters. Providing information in communities, states, and the nation matter. Communicating information increases a sense of political possibility, provides guidance as to the direction the country is headed, and what can be done to bring about change.