Jack Ciattarelli would like the modern election system to take inspiration from the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln. The failed 2021 GOP gubernatorial candidate’s (extremely) hot take that the 81% turnout achieved in 1860 holds valuable lessons for today’s legislators is egregious. It overlooks the fact over half the voting age population—women or people of color—did not even factor into that calculation. While I feel his pain regarding voter turnout in 2021, he also ignores what political insiders know well—that turnout in a presidential election year is always higher than off years.

Voter apathy stems from complacency. When voters are satisfied with the status quo or do not feel that their vote will make a difference they stay at home. We saw this in 2016, when millions of voters were lulled into complacency by incorrect polling and a media who convinced them that Clinton could not lose. I would argue that we saw a similar scenario play out in New Jersey in 2021. 

Who showed up to vote at the polls in 2016? Trump voters. Contrast that with 2018 and 2020. In 2018, women voters who were angry about the Trump election turned out in huge numbers to flip seats across the country. In New Jersey they flipped four congressional seats (CD02, CD03, CD07, and CD11). Those same voters returned to the polls two years later to flip Senate seats in Georgia and Arizona and ensure that Trump would not return to the White House. In a largely vote-by-mail election year we saw record turnout in New Jersey—Hunterdon County clocked in at a whopping 86%!

But you know what else makes voters stay away from the poll booth? Being told repeatedly that the system doesn’t work—that your vote will not be counted. The danger posed by the continued  ‘Big Lie’—the false assertion that the former President won the 2020 election— to our entire electoral system cannot be overstated. As recently as last week, the national Republican party voted to defend the actions of the terrorists at the Capitol who tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after that election as “legitimate political discourse”. 

New Jersey could certainly benefit from a uniform voting system across its 21 counties. But rules like requiring IDs and restricting where VBMs can be mailed (disenfranchising thousands of college students who call New Jersey home) smacks of voter suppression. Maybe instead it’s time to get rid of an archaic idea—that Election Day is held on the first Tuesday in November and pick a date that actually enfranchises communities of color and then, make it a public holiday.  

Anjali Mehrotra is a feminist and activist. She is President of the National Organization for Women of New Jersey and a cabinet member of Emerge NJ. She continues to speak out against the marginalization of under-represented communities in the halls of power where they are often excluded from the rooms where decisions are made.