Calif.
diversity not represented at polls
By Jill Thomsen
On-line Forty-Niner
Last
Tuesday’s midterm election suffered the
lowest voter turnout in the history of California
and had the greatest percentage of the white
electorate in a decade.
With a mere 44.9 percent of California’s
registered voters appearing at the polls
Tuesday, the difference between the diverse
population of California and the white upper
class voting population was dramatic.
In the 2000 census Los Angeles County had
a 44.56 percent Hispanic population.
Last Tuesday, however, the statewide Latino
electorate was 10 percent according to Los
Angeles Times exit polling.
California was the first state in the union
to not have a majority white population
and Long Beach itself is considered to be
one of the most diverse cities in the nation.
In spite of this diversity, 76 percent of
the electorate on Tuesday was white. Eighty
percent of the voters had post-high school
educations. Almost 60 percent had family
incomes over $60,000 a year.
Political science professor Ron Schmidt
says such skewed voting reduces the legitimacy
of the voting system. Groups are not represented
and they feel like “that is their government,
not our government,” Schmidt said.
Recent elections in the state had seen a
slow but steady increase in the voting rates
of Latinos and other nonwhites. In
fact, the Latino turnout rate has been steadily
growing since 1986 until Tuesday’s results,
where less than one-third of the Latino
population of California was represented
at the polls.
Though absentee ballots have not all been
counted, Tuesday’s election is likely to
be the lowest turnout in any statewide race
since record keeping began in 1910 according
to the Secretary of State’s office. Based
on exit polling, 4 percent of the statewide
electorate was black, down 9 percent from
1998’s mid-term election, meaning roughly
800,000 fewer African Americans cast ballots
than in 1998.
Most political experts see the general voter
disinterest in Tuesday’s election as having
an ever greater effect on the nonwhite population.
Schmidt noted that a drop in total voter
turnout usually coincides with a sharper
drop in lower education groups and younger
voters.
Since these characteristics are generally
associated with Democratic supporters, experts
believe this could explain the tighter than
expected gubernatorial race in which Governor
Gary Davis won by 5 percentage points.
Schmidt, an expert in racial and ethnic
politics, says that he feels minority voting
could increase by doing two things — making
citizenship easier and making the citizenship
process more politically oriented rather
than legal. Schmidt said he feels that becoming
an active member of society should be a
part of the requirements for becoming a
U.S. citizen.
Although establishing minority turnout is
a difficult task done by exit polling and
sampling, party turnout can be garnered
by examining voter registration. According
to the Los Angeles Times, Democratic turnout
declined slightly, from 48 percent to 46
percent, but the percentages of Republicans
and independents increased from 39 percent
to 40 percent.
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