For doctors of democracy, election results provide an opportunity to gather measurements and statistics regarding the health of our democracy. Looking at the results of the recent elections, the prognosis is not optimistic. The first vital measurement, voter turnout, reveals a record low of 49 percent for a presidential election year. This continues a steady trend downward. In the 1994 congressional elections, barely one third of eligible voters participated.
Some pundits theorize that the low turnout is because voters are content.
The second vital measurement reveals that, despite general dissatisfaction with government, over ninety four percent of incumbents won re-election this year. Not only that, two thirds of congressional elections were won by landslides of 20 points or higher. A look at past elections reveals similar Politburo-like results. Evidence is even more stark at the state level, where more than one-third of state legislative elections were uncontested by a major party, and most others were barely competitive. Every ten years, legislative districts are redrawn to create safe districts for incumbent politicians and their parties.