Senator Whipple's Richmond Report

The September Project is a living memorial to the victims of September 11th. Last Saturday people from all over the world came together at public places to share and discuss ideas about democracy, citizenship and patriotism.

I participated in a panel of legislators at the Arlington Central Library where we discussed "Gerrymandering, Negative Campaigning and other Threats to Democracy."

Delegate Bob Brink led off with a presentation on the "vanishing voter", based on a book of that name by Thomas E, Patterson. Since 1960 voter participation in Presidential electionshas dropped from 63% of the adult population to only 51% in 2004. In 1996, participation actually dropped below 50%. Although the percentatges are somewhat higher, participation rates of registered voters have also decreased (although Fall Church bucks that trend!).

The recent Virginia gerrymandering was described by Marian Van Landingham of Alexandria who is the ranking minority member of the House Committee on Privileges and Elections. She told us that, while redistricting in Virginia has always been partisan, the process in 2001 was particularly effective because of computer technology that can analyze voting patterns down to the census block level. Now very few legislative or Congressional districts are competitive, another reason for low voter participation.

In Iowa, redistricting is done by a non-political commission. The net result is that Iowa has more competitive Congressional districts (4) than New York and California combined. It is very difficult in most states, however, to get a change in the system because there is no incentive for the party in power to give up their hold on redistricting.

Negative campaigning is also believed to be responsible in part for lower voter participation. It has become more prevalent because it seems to work. Psychologists say that people remember negative messages longer than positive messages so they do not need to be shown as often to instill concerns in the minds of the voters. The famous commercial in 1964 of the little girl pulling off the petals of the daisy was shown only once! Media coverage of the ads often intensifies their effect as the ads themselves become news. That is one reason that "ad watch" efforts are generally unsuccessful.

The requirement to "stand by your ad" in which the candidate has to say he has authorized a TV or radio commercial or a mailing has reduced negativity from campaigns, but has been overcome by the negative campaigning from "independent" organizations.

Perhaps the only effective way to reduce negative campaigning is when it backfires. In Canada in 1993 the Conservative Party drew attention to a physical disability of the Liberal party candidate for prime minister. The voters were so appalled that the Conservatives went from 154 seats to 2. Now the Canadians are quite polite when campaigning!

The citizens who attended the forum were very concerned about these trends in voter participation and their causes. Ideas ranged from better civics instruction in schools to requiring the media to do more public interest programming.