Marsha Blackburn and Phil Bredesen have been virtually neck-and-neck in polling for the Tennessee Senate race, and the winner of the seat depends solely on the citizens of Tennessee.
Even though Tennessee has a record of marching rightward politically in recent years, some people will choose not to vote because they believe their vote will not matter in the end.
Robb McDaniel, a political science professor at Middle Tennessee State University, said although it should be recognized that United States citizens have the right to not vote if they would rather not be involved, this particular election is one that non-voters should consider taking interest in.
“This is an election year where there are races in Tennessee that can potentially make a difference,” McDaniel said. “In the last few days, Marsha Blackburn has pulled in a little bit of a lead, but there’s still a lot of time before the election. This is the case where if you had significant voter turnout, especially new voters entering the electorate, you might get a different outcome.”
Along with this year’s Missouri Senate race, Tennessee has one of the closest elections of the 2018 election cycle. Non-voters may argue that they choose not to vote because they find both Blackburn and Bredesen unappealing, McDaniel said. He also said it is common for citizens to be turned off of voting for candidates because they examine their personalities and characteristics over the values they hold and the parties they represent.
“There’s no perfect politician; there’s no perfect candidate,” McDaniel said. “You can always find things wrong with everybody who’s on the ballot. There are significant differences between the parties, and so even if you don’t think the candidates themselves are attractive or appealing or exciting, those candidates are representatives of parties, and there is a huge difference in the way those parties will represent you.”
With Blackburn receiving the Republican nomination and Bredesen receiving the Democratic nomination, McDaniel said non-voters should consider their own interests and learn which political party caters to their priorities. This first step might lead Tennessee citizens who are inactive in the election to begin caring about who will win.
“Voting is about interests and making sure your interests are represented,” McDaniel said. “When you look at the parties, there are clear distinctions between the Republicans and the Democrats in terms of what they stand for, what kinds of interests they represent. When you think about voting, you should always think about it in terms of influencing power.”
Carrie Humphreys, a political science professor at the University of Tennessee Martin, agreed with McDaniel that recognizing personal interests will lead non-voters to care. She said she often asks her students about their priorities and incorporates them into politics.
“If getting a job after college is a concern or a priority, then who’s in office could very well influence the ease or difficulty in finding a job in Tennessee, in the United States (or) globally,” Humphreys said. “I think they just need to realize it’s going to effect them in one way or another.”
