Notes from Abroad

Where voting isn't 'cool'

Sunday, January 31, 2010

By Lyssa Auton

GVL Study Abroad Columnist

When I’m 30 and have to take medication for high blood pressure, I’ll blame politics.

As a United States citizen, I treasure my constitutional rights; namely, my freedom of speech and my right to vote.

However, just because I have the right to speak freely doesn’t mean anyone listens. Our government is a brick wall that I’ve talked to more than once. Nevertheless, I take pride in the fact that I have a say in who becomes the next president of the United States.

In terms of politics, I couldn’t have chosen a better time to study in Santiago, Chile: Election year!

I arrived incredibly excited to take part in the culture that surrounds the election of a president, and though I would not be able to vote, I looked forward to my participation in such matters.

On top of the normal excitement of a presidential election, this year was different for two principal reasons.

First, Chilean elections are typically held in December; however, the results from the initial election were too close to call and a run-off between the two candidates with the highest percentage of votes was called.

Secondly, this was the first time a right-winged candidate had a chance of winning since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990. Both factors made for an interesting race.

Having recently participated in the ground-breaking election of President Obama, I was curious to hear how the Chileans were feeling about their own unusual election.

What I heard did not surprise me. The majority of the youth were very passionate about the left-winged candidate Eduardo Frei. Many of the older generation feared the success of the right-winged candidate Sebastian Piñera, as he symbolized the atrocities they faced under the dictatorship. This I expected, what followed, I did not.

On January 17, 2010, only 7,186,344 out of almost 17 million Chilean citizens voted. Even worse, it is reported that only 9.2 percent of 18-29 year olds are even registered to vote.

Complacency is a strange thing. It’s a trait that I often attributed to North Americans in the past. We’re all guilty of it; talking the talk but not walking the walk.

I know few young U.S. citizens who were indifferent about the 2008 election and opted not to vote. For this younger generation, not voting was not “cool.” With celebrity-endorsed campaign messages such as P. Diddy’s “Vote or Die,” young people felt empowered to take a stand. Both parties were enthused. And we voted. For once, I’d say we got it right.

So, with such an important election, why did so many Chileans choose not to vote? It’s possible that the cultural “coolness” that drove our 2008 presidential election didn’t translate.

Another explanation may be a less efficient voting system. And yet another, that Chile is a country recovering from a staggering dictatorship that sucked out the confidence it takes to stand up for what you believe in. But your guess is as good as mine.

Posted 7:08 PM