Voteless Voters

In Washington, D. C., a lawyer has started a National Get-Out-the-Vote Club. It is to be a non-partisan body, whose pure purpose will be to get qualified voters to vote. Simon Michelet, the founder, points out that, in the last Presidential election, for every 100 votes cast there were 194 people of voting age qualified to cast votes. He asserted that the voteless voters have increased in recent years and presented figures to show that of all qualified voters 80% cast ballots in 1896, 73% in 1900, 66% in 1908, 62% in 1912, and that in 1920 only about 50% cast ballots. What is more, he declares that the native-born population are the worst offenders, because there were 21 million more native-born citizens of voting age in 1920 than the entire num- ber of votes cast.

There are any number of civic organizations interested in "getting out" the vote. Women's organizations are prominent in this group, the Leagues of Women voters being among the most active.

From a practical standpoint, however, the fact remains that the most active work done in getting out the vote is carried on by political parties. Their managers always have the im- pression that the voters who do not vote would vote for their candidates if they got to the polls. In 1920, something less than 27 million votes were cast. It is generally expected that over 30 million will be cast this year. The party workers who get out the vote are paid, and the greater the vote, the greater it may be expected that campaign expenses will be.

Incidentally, in spite of Mr. Michelet's depressing percentages, the total vote in recent Presidential elec- tions has increased tremendously-- due to growth of population and the fact that women (in 1920) were awarded the vote.

1896 13,827,000

1900 13,972,000

1904 13,524,000

1908 14,808,000

1912 15,031,000

1916 18,529,000

1920 26,674,000