Voices and Votes has been made possible at Mercer County Community College by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Voices and Votes is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Federation of State Humanities Councils. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.
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MCCC is one of six community colleges in New Jersey selected by NJCH to host Voices and Votes. (Complete exhibit schedule here.) This exhibit has been made possible by NJCH and is part of the Museum on Main Street series (MoMS), a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Federation of State Humanities Councils. Support for MoMS has been provided by the United States Congress. To learn more about Voices and other MoMS exhibitions, click here.
Voices of Democracy: The U.S. Oratory Project promotes the study of great speeches and debates in U.S. history. The project features the words of those who have defined the country’s guiding principles, debated controversial social and political issues, and shaped the identity and character of the American people. The project aims to foster an understanding of the nation’s principles and history and to promote civic engagement among scholars, teachers, and students.
Voice of the People (VOP) is a nonpartisan organization working to re-anchor our democracy in its founding principles by giving ‘We the People’ a greater and more effective voice in government.
VOP champions innovative methods and technology – notably online public consultations – that enable the American people to play a role in the policymaking process and provide policymakers with a more accurate understanding of the views of their constituents.
Why Voting Is Important
from: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/why-voting-important
If you ever think that just one vote in a sea of millions cannot make much of a difference, consider some of the closest elections in U.S. history.
In 2000, Al Gore narrowly lost the Electoral College vote to George W. Bush. The election came down to a recount in Florida, where Bush had won the popular vote by such a small margin that it triggered an automatic recount and a Supreme Court case (Bush v. Gore). In the end, Bush won Florida by 0.009 percent of the votes cast in the state, or 537 votes. Had 600 more pro-Gore voters gone to the polls in Florida that November, there may have been an entirely different president from 2000–2008.
More recently, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016 by securing a close Electoral College win. Although the election did not come down to a handful of votes in one state, Trump’s votes in the Electoral College decided a tight race. Clinton had won the national popular vote by nearly three million votes, but the concentration of Trump voters in key districts in “swing” states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan helped seal enough electoral votes to win the presidency.
Your vote may not directly elect the president, but if your vote joins enough others in your voting district or county, your vote undoubtedly matters when it comes to electoral results. Most states have a “winner take all” system where the popular vote winner gets the state’s electoral votes. There are also local and state elections to consider. While presidential or other national elections usually get a significant voter turnout, local elections are typically decided by a much smaller group of voters.
A Portland State University study found that fewer than 15 percent of eligible voters were turning out to vote for mayors, council members, and other local offices. Low turnout means that important local issues are determined by a limited group of voters, making a single vote even more statistically meaningful.
The Importance of Democracy
from: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/04/importance-democracy
When talking about the importance of democracy it is important to define it accurately. Democracy is popular sovereignty – in Abraham Lincoln’s words, ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’. At its heart is the concept of the population choosing a government through regular, free, and fair elections.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
H.L. Mencken
In Europe and the English-speaking world it is often assumed democracy naturally takes the form of liberal democracy – popular sovereignty but limited by a constitution which guarantees individual freedoms (such as speech) and rights (such as to a fair trial). Crucially these essential freedoms are not subject to a democratic vote.
In fact, democracy does not necessarily have to be liberal. Certain nations today have illiberal democracies where voting continues but liberal characteristics, such as an independent judiciary and free press, have been compromised.
Defenders of liberal democracy say this actually makes these societies inherently undemocratic, as stripping away liberal guarantees leads to intimidation and coercion by the state, undermining elections.
The guarantees of liberal democracy are intended to ensure no ethnic, geographic, class, or business interest dominates or exploits others to an unreasonable degree, and that there is fair and universal consent gained for government policies.
The MCCC Gallery is located on the second floor of the Communication Building, on the college’s West Windsor Campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor, NJ. For information, email: howarthk@mccc.edu
The schedule for this exhibit as it travels throughout the state is listed here.
