> We are a democracy, but 144 million Americans – 42% of the adults who live here – do not vote and have no say in what happens.
Why do we worry so much about voter turnout? A 58% voter turnout is a statistically significant sampling of the population; aren't we getting a pretty accurate measurement of the actual vote with that high of voter turnout?
Now if voter turnout is skewed, then that's a problem worth talking about. But with how much time and effort it takes to vote, it seems like such a waste of time with how we do it today.
We could get the same results with much less effort if we made it work like jury duty; at each election we select 10% of the population at random and it's their job to actually do the research and go to the work of voting (research candidates, wait 3 hours at the ballot box, etc), and the remaining 90% of us get to go watch a movie or something that day.
> A 58% voter turnout is a statistically significant sampling of the population
Voters are not randomly sampled so this is impossible to state due to selection bias. If a plurality of potential voters are saying "none of the above" when asked to vote, that itself is a noteworthy signal.
Have you heard of sortition? Its taking your last idea even further, and having that random selection just actually become the legislative body. Would hopefully lead to less polarisation as parties would have less opportunities to fundraise and divide. Most people don’t fall neatly into the two party buckets anyway
Why do we worry so much about voter turnout? A 58% voter turnout is a statistically significant sampling of the population; aren't we getting a pretty accurate measurement of the actual vote with that high of voter turnout?
Now if voter turnout is skewed, then that's a problem worth talking about. But with how much time and effort it takes to vote, it seems like such a waste of time with how we do it today.
We could get the same results with much less effort if we made it work like jury duty; at each election we select 10% of the population at random and it's their job to actually do the research and go to the work of voting (research candidates, wait 3 hours at the ballot box, etc), and the remaining 90% of us get to go watch a movie or something that day.