Evening star., 1950-11-01
Defect in Democracy
Seen in Transporting
OF Voters 10 Polls
Public Held Indifferent
To responsibilities or
Would Go Unuided
By David Lascrence

81 By David Laurence
= This is the season when 1t /:
considered non-partisan and o.
civic Importance to urge people tt
, go to the polls and exercise theil
e priced privilege Of voting. There
are even some observers who think
compulsory voting and a fine fol
-, those who fail to vote would be il
the public interest.
But. actually, what America ha.
most to fear is a heavy vote wher
the persons who go to the polls
are dragged there and told how
to vote.
For many years 1t has beer
customary for well-intentioneo
citizens to organize to transport
voters to the polls. There seems
to be adequate transportation
when the women folks want tc
get to beauty parlor or when the
men folks want to get to midtown
for any one Of a hundred errands
they have to do in the course OF
a year. But that it should be
necessary to furnish automobiles
to get voters to the polls seems to
some extent a reflection on the
) initiative of the citizen as well as
! his independence of mind.
= For. when the precinct workers
call for the voter and take him or
her to the polls, an obligation is
!, created to vote the way the pre-
cinct workers indicate. There are
at the polls also on election day
many workers who furnish hand
bills or engage the voters in con-
versation at the proper distance
from the voting booth.
Exhortations Seem Innocent.
There can hardly be any objec-
ton to the arguing or to the dis
tribution Of campaign literature
but. with all the controversy now
adays about money being spent in
political contests, one rarely sees
an estimate Of the cost in time
and money of those workers who
virtually drag citizens to the polls.
1t may be wondered how much
intelligence is exhibited by an
electorate when so. large a pro-
portion of the vote cast is con-
trolled. directed or Influenced or
high pressured by workers, paid
or otherwise.
The very exhortations heard
every year ''to get out the vote"
seem innocent enough on the sur
face but along with this kind of
appeal. usually there are organized
efforts to call on voters at their
homes and fill them in a few
minutes with last words of preju-
dice or emotion. The party or
candidate having the most effec-
tive organization" of this kind
not infrequently wins out.
1t is significant that the Demo-
cratic chiefs are talking about
how certain they are to win more
seats in Congress this year if the
Democrats get out and vote. It is
also significant that Republicans
claim that they lost in 1948 be-
cause too many Republicans stayed
at home. -, ,,...e - :.
Some Failure Seen.
Surveys made in Akron, Ohio,
OF what happened in the presi-
Dental election a couple years
ago reveal that large percentage
OF business and professional men
end others in what would be
called the educated groups failed
to go to the polls. It is quite likely
that the percentage of the total
eligible to vote who do vote would
decline considerably If there were
no pressure used to get citizens to
the polls.
1t Is frequently asserted that
the women do not avail themselves
OF the vote, as has been predicted
when woman suffrage was being
urged. This may or may not be
due to the fact that household
duties and lack Of transportation
sometimes prevent them from
getting to the voting booth. There
is undoubtedly a need for trans
portation but this should be fur
n1shed by non-partisan organiza-
tions formed for this purpose and
assisted by public funds.
( Americans can hardly be proud
: Of any election in which so much
effort has to be expended, first, to
] get people acquainted with the
basic issues. and, second, when so
much time and money must be
spent to transport voters to the
polls. Clearly there is here a seri-
out defect in American democracy.
Maybe the schools and colleges or
even the churches have failed to
teach individual responsibility and
the obligations of citizenship.
Surely, somewhere, there has been
a failure.
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