Essay Constitutional Amendments and Voting

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Constitutional Amendments and Voting
Every educated American knows that the Constitution holds the fundamental principles our country is built on. Through much debate, argument, and agreement our founding fathers wrote the constitution so that all Americans and future citizens of the United States could have all the freedoms, liberties, and rights that the Constitution entails. It is in just the first three words that one may see what our country is all about, and that is “We The People.” It is no secret to the world that our country’s government runs on a representational democracy, entailing that Americans must elect and vote on their personal choice of who they think can help to best represent their political beliefs and hopes in whatever branch or level of government it may be. Just those two facts blatantly show that we the people have the power through being politically involved to decide who we want running our country.
However, from prior knowledge I know that when the constitution was written the right to vote was not permitted to all citizens. Over years of government and history classes I learned 11,000 amendments have been proposed to the constitution, yet excluding the Bill of Rights, only 17 have been approved and added to the Constitution. Three of those amendments, the 15th, 19th, and 26th, contained rights to vote for colored people, females, and anyone 18 years of age or older and registered to vote. Despite all the hard work put into obtaining equality in voting, America is the least politically involved country when it comes to voting. Yet, America can begin improving voter turnout because college students have become so politically involved in wanting to affect their future in this country.
There are over 313 million citizens in our country, and many may have legitimate reasons not to vote. However, according to The United States Census Bureau from 1966 to 2010, in four-year increments, the amount of people who have voted in Congressional Elections has gone from around fifty-five percent, to around forty-two percent. Not even fifty percent of Americans can turn out to vote for the leaders that are chosen to represent their political views. Americans have begun to completely disregard the work done by people like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks. It has also been noted by The Census Bureau that the most common Americans do not vote is they are too busy. The percentage of Americans who claim they are too busy is twenty-seven percent. While at the same time, sixteen percent of people do not vote, for they feel their vote would not make a difference (Page 2).
In a country supported by a representational democracy, the amount of Americans who vote is not nearly enough to truly have an understanding of what the American people want and need in running their country. There are so many Americans who complain that not enough is being done in government, or the wrong person was elected. Yet, the problem isn’t within the government. It was Americans who worked hard to make the change and receive equality within voting rights. Instead now, it is fellow Americans creating the problems that are so well complained about. In the 2010 Election Administration and Voting Survey, the U.S Election Assistance Commission stated that there were approximately 186.8 million total eligible and registered voters in the United States. Out of that 186.8 million, only 90,810,679 Americans participated in the election (1). The Election Assistance Commission also points out that the 2010 amount of 186.8 million eligible voters, had a decrease of 3.6 million registered voters since the 2008 election (1). These statistics exemplify how poor the United States voter turnout can only hurt the government and political process.
Comparatively with the average citizens it has been shown that college students are becoming much more active. In Majkebra M. Anderson, NNPA National
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