If Cities are the Future, Why Doesn’t Anyone Vote in Local Elections?
The chart above shows voter turnout in local elections in four major cities in the United States. Much has been made of the rapid urbanization of the US and the world (I won’t mention the oft-cited percentages, or Anthony Townsend might get mad at me), but if so many people are moving to cities, why aren’t they voting in city elections? Urban economist Edward Glaeser calls cities humanity’s “greatest invention” and the very title of his book says they make us “richer, smarter, greener, healthier, and happier”, but in a democratic society, how hopeful can an urban future be if nobody participates in local democracy?
One cause of the decline in local turnout could be the similar decline in local newspapers all across the US. According to journalism.org, there are “126 fewer daily papers in 2014 than [there were] in 2004.”
The internet has taken away much of the revenue that used to support local newspapers. Websites like Craigslist have replaced newspapers as the home for classified ads, which used to account for a large portion of newspapers’ profits. The media companies that have succeeded in the digital age depend on economies of scale to make money off of pay-per-click (or per impression) advertising. This means they are competing for large, national or international audiences, and thus cover primarily national- and state-level stories.
Without robust local journalism, how can city residents get enough information to be interested and involved in local government?
The Federal Communications Commission, in a 2011 report titled The Information Needs of Communities, writes, “in many communities, we now face a shortage of local, professional, accountability reporting. This is likely to lead to the kinds of problems that are, not surprisingly, associated with a lack of accountability — more government waste, more local corruption, less effective schools, and other serious community problems. The independent watchdog function that the Founding Fathers envisioned for journalism — going so far as to call it crucial to a healthy democracy — is in some cases at risk at the local level.”
Decreases in local voter turnout may be one of those unfortunate effects of evolution in journalism. We may not be able to prove causation, but a correlation is clear. Governing Magazine reports that “in 2001, an average of 26.6 percent of cities’ voting-age population cast ballots, while less than 21 percent did so in 2011.” See that decline charted next to the shrinking newspaper business here:
As we become increasingly urbanized, we will need a robust journalism sector to inform city denizens and hold local government accountable. Only then will we be equipped to engage with local government in the ways that allow it to respond to our needs and reflect our aspirations. If we’re going to have the 21st century local news we need, it’s going to take further innovations in business models and (probably) consumers willing to pay for it.
