Voting — a responsibility that is the foundation of democracy, and a privilege envied by societies that are less free — is ignored by many Americans, by many Ridgefielders.
In an ambitious report to the selectmen, two high school interns documented the breadth of the problem — from turnout of less than 10% at the last budget referendum to chronically poor participation by younger voters — and proposed a “three-pronged strategy” to address the situation.
“Australia, Belgium and Chile, voter turnout hovered near 90% in the 2000s. Other countries, like Austria, Sweden and Italy, experienced turnout rates near 80%,” Austin Langer and Caroline Treschitta said in their report to the selectmen. “…While in the U.S. about 60% of the voting eligible population votes during presidential election years, and about 40% votes during midterm elections.”
Ridgefield’s voter turnout ranged from 53% to 64% in the five congressional elections between 1998 and 2014, while the town’s turnout in the four presidential years ranged from 83% in 2012 and to 89% in 2000, they said.
Town votes
On local issues, like budget votes, the turnout is much lower, the two interns said in report presented at the June 10 Board of Selectmen’s meeting.
In Ridgefield’s May 12, 2015, budget referendum, 1,628 Ridgefielders cast ballots. With some 16,403 registered voters in town, that’s a turnout of about 10% — meaning 90% ignored the vote.
“Many people were not aware a vote was occurring in the community,” Langer told the selectmen. “Or, they didn’t understand what the vote was about.”
“Age is a primary factor, with the younger generation the worst,” Treschitta told the board.
In the May 2015 budget referendum, they found, just 1.5% of registered voters aged 18 to 29 took part, while turnout was 6.5% among voters 30 to 39, 12.1% in the 40 to 49 age group, and 8.6% among 50- to 59-year-olds, 12.2% among voters 60 to 69, with the best showing of 18% turnout by voters age 70 and older.
Two November elections that the researchers looked at also found the lowest participation in the younger age groups.
On Nov. 5, 2013, overall turnout was 23.8%, with 3,913 of 16,403 registered voters participating. Among voters 18 to 29 years old, just 4.6% took part, and among 30- to 39-year-olds, turnout was 12.5%. Turnout rose steadily as ages increased: 40 to 49 years, 24.6%; 50 to 59 years, 26.7%; 60 to 69 years, 31.5%; 70 and older, 36.6% turned out.
On Nov. 8, 2011, 4,315 of 16,403 voters participated — 26.3% turnout. In the 18 to 29 age group, 3.9% of registered voters turned out. And the 30 to 39 group did even worse, with 1.9% of those registered bothering to vote.
Again, older people did better. Turnout in November 2011 ranged from 40% for 40- to 49-year-olds to 27.3% in the 50 to 59 age group, with voters 60 to 69 at 30.1%, and 32.2% of voters over 70.
What vote?
Treschitta and Langer conducted a survey, asking people their recent voting history and trying to find out what kept people from voting.
“The common responses of people who did not vote were people were not aware that a vote was occurring, people did not have a strong understanding of the issues, and people found the date, time and location inconvenient,” the report said.
From this the two interns developed their three-part strategy to improve participation in town votes through:
• Raising awareness;
• More accessible voting;
• Showing the importance of town government.
Facebook?
To raise awareness of votes, the two interns propose that the town turn to “social media” such as Facebook, as well as email and automated phone calls.
“A social media campaign would increase voter turnout significantly, especially because the age that we are targeting is 18-39 years old,” the interns’ report said.
“Town leaders could get involved by creating their own social media accounts, especially Facebook,” they said. “If you were able to ‘like’ or ‘friend’ a town leader via Facebook, the town leader would post status updates with reminders about upcoming votes.”
In a cost analysis, they suggested that a social media campaign might also be done for free, through a volunteer committee.
They also proposed using emails and automated phone calls — “robo calls” — and to remind people, especially groups with lower participation like unaffiliated voters, about upcoming votes.
Ridgefield robo
The interns wrote a mock script for an automated call that last budget referendum.
“Hello Ridgefielders! This is (name) with the first selectman’s office of Ridgefield. We’re calling to remind you that a vote is taking place tomorrow, May 12th, to decide on the town budget. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Yanity Gym. If you would like to learn more about the issues being voted on, please visit the Ridgefield Town Hall website and look at a sample ballot. Again, remember to vote tomorrow. Ridgefield’s future depends on you!”
The message ran 27 seconds, they said, so each call would cost a little over a penny — 1.3 cents — mean a program targeting all unaffiliated voters would cost $47, and calling all 18- to 39-year-old registered voters would be $29.
Another idea they explored is subscribing to an e-mail program that would send out “weekly e-mail blasts” informing people what’s going on in town.
The cost would vary with the number of email addresses on the list, with 1,000 to 1,500 addresses costing $20 a month and emailing 12,801 to 25,000 addresses costing $150 a month.
Ridgefield app?
The students also suggested having a “Ridgefield app” created.
“Designing a Ridgefield app would be wildly popular, especially with the younger generation,” they said. “It would give all users timely updates of town events … making more people aware that votes are occurring.”
They got a quote on $4,900 to have a Ridgefield app designed, though it might be done for less, the interns said.
And, they suggested having the town’s website redesigned.
“The Ridgefield town website looks dated, and when our website is compared to those from surrounding Fairfield County towns it looks insufficient. We believe that the website should be redesigned to be both more aesthetically pleasing and easier to use. For example Darien’s website is very concise and clean.”
They got an estimate of $8,250 for a website redesign.
Three polls open
For “more accessible voting” they looked at the cost of having all three polling places open, even for lower turnout votes such as budget referendums.
Currently town referendums usually have everyone voting at Yanity gym, while state and national elections use three polling places — East Ridge Middle School, Scotts Ridge Middle School, and Yanity Gym.
Costs with one polling location are $2,527, they said, and with three polling sites the costs are $6,862.
So the added cost of using all three polling places every time would be $4,334 per vote, the interns projected.
“If you implement our strategies in the next referendum you’ll see increased voter turnout,” Treschitta told the selectmen.
Applause, questions
The report was praised and applauded by the audience at the June 10 selectmen’s meeting.
“It’s a great report,” said Selectman Andy Bodner.
He raised a concern with the interns’ suggestion of targeting reminders like emails or robo-calls to specific low-turnout groups such as younger voters, or unaffiliated voters.
“I wonder about the legality of targeting groups,” he said. “Parties can target groups. I don’t know if that’s the role of town government.”
First Selectman Rudy Marconi thought the idea of reducing confusion about polling places, by always opening all three locations, was worth more study.
“Should we open three polls consistently, so people aren’t confused?” he said.
Marconi said later that he’d consider the interns’ recommendations on ways to increase people’s knowledge of town issues and votes.
“I certainly hope to be able to put a program together to make people more aware,” he said.
Another idea he liked is “becoming more flexible with absentee voting” to make voting easier.
“If you’re not going to be in town, you’re not going to be able to get to the polls, you can come in a week, two weeks in advance, at your leisure, and vote,” he said.
Town Deputy Emergency Management Director Dick Aarons was at the meeting, and challenged the two interns to consider a different perspective.
“Have you given, philosophically, any thought to the idea of why we would want people at the polls who haven’t informed themselves?” he said. “Isn’t it better if they just don’t turn out?”
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