A Political Commentary – Non-Voters Buyer’s Remorse

By Terrance Afer-Anderson

Using data from the University of Florida Election Lab, the Environmental Voter Project reports that, nationwide, “85.9 million eligible voters skipped the 2024 general election, far surpassing the 76.8 million ballots cast for Donald Trump or the 74.3 million for Kamala Harris.” Simply put, of people who could vote, there were more who did not vote for either Vice-President Kamala Harris or President-Elect Donald Trump. The Environmental Voter Project further observes that, “If ‘Did Not Vote’ had been a presidential candidate, they would have beaten Donald Trump by 9.1 million votes and would have won 21 states.”

In light of Trump’s actions since becoming president-elect, especially the extreme cabinet and administration choices he is making, I wonder how many people since November 5, 2024 are already experiencing “buyer’s remorse.” Some day soon, there will likely be a grave realization among non-voters that their civic inaction has reduced them to serving as surrogates for those now afforded the opportunity to lead the nation with extremist ideologies. Not casting a ballot has proved tantamount to purchasing an expensive political vehicle with no warranty of good maintenance.

Why would people vote for a convicted felon to serve as President of the United States? But more importantly, why would people not vote, when there is conspicuously so very much at stake?

In a November 23, 2024 article, the non-partisan POLITICO reports that it conducted an analysis of some 3,000 precincts, in six traditionally Democratic leaning, urban hubs. These included Philadelphia, Atlanta, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Phoenix and Las Vegas. POLITICO observed that each city experienced a dramatic decline in African-American and Hispanic voter turnout. It added, “The highest drops coming in neighborhoods where residents have the lowest incomes and are least likely to be college-educated.” Indeed, I personally witnessed such a disarming lack of interest.

One night, while making canvassing calls for Kamala Harris to a predominantly African-American urban Norfolk neighborhood, the overwhelming majority of people, with whom the calls could even be connected, hung-up on me. During that enlightening, yet heart-breaking episode, I found only two residents who said they would vote for Vice-President Harris.

As a contributing Election Analyst for CQ (Congressional Quarterly) Roll Call, Nathan L. Gonzales, Editor and Publisher of Inside Elections, published a November 7, 2024 article where he observed  “Voters’ perceptions matter more than reality.” Just prior to the election, the Associated Press published an article by Gary Fields. Entitled “Why Millions of Americans Don’t Vote in U.S. Elections,” a section highlighted Fields’s query of Earl Jones, a homeless Detroit, MI man who advised he hadn’t voted since the ‘70s. Jones quipped, “I ain’t voting for nobody unless we see somebody go do something for us … If they do something for us it’ll be alright. If they don’t, the hell with it.” While Jones’s decades-long absence from voting, hopefully, makes him a bit of a pariah, a FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll conducted prior to the 2020 presidential election notes that a staggering 25 percent of Americans have never voted or had voted in no more than one election.

Advertisement

Yet, from what we’ve already seen from Donald Trump’s actions since his designation as president-elect, I am hopeful that the generally accepted alarming forecast of the nation’s political future will result in increased, fervent activism, to include those who did not vote on November 5, 2024. The divisive, restrictive and privileged policies Trump is certain to pursue and deploy will no doubt herald a wake-up call for the nation, its hallmark a quite unsettling buyer’s remorse.

Terrance Afer-Anderson is a writer, actor, director and producer who lives in Hampton Roads. He is also President/CEO, TerraVizion Entertainment Network.