There are many common barriers to voting and civic participation.
A primary philosophy of the Key to Community project is to allow the participants to articulate their concerns about the voting process and other forms of getting involved. The peer moderators use this information, which has been generated in each Key to Community session, as an important tool to make sure all concerns and questions are answered by the end of the workshop.
Barriers to voting
During the voting workshops, participants gave reasons why people do and do not vote (which were usually recorded on an easel sheet). Across the twelve locations, the lists were fairly consistent (see composite list in Exhibit V). The answers to "why not vote" fell into four main clusters, with typical responses listed in general order of frequency:
Information-related:
Apathy/Lack of relevance:
Dislike of politics:
Cultural:
The information-related barriers were cited much more frequently than those related to apathy - although some students talked about how they were interrelated. For example, one of the learners who helped plan the Key to Community project explained, "I didn't understand so I didn't care."
"I didn't think it was that important. Whatever happens, whoever got elected, it wouldn't matter." - Baldwin Park Latina student
"They are disinterested because the information is so hard to understand. They feel stupid." - Merced administrator
"Voting? I'm not into it...there is a lack of people reaching out and explaining why your vote might count." - African American Baldwin Park student
"The materials for elections are overwhelming and indecipherable."
- Sacramento teacher
"Learners feel 'participation in the political process doesn't affect my life.' They are also distrustful of government and used to feeling 'ripped off'."
- San Diego Literacy Coordinator
For many of the new citizens or students working on their citizenship, there are also cultural factors. An instructor in Sacramento said the hardest part of teaching government to her mostly immigrant students is helping them to understand "the voting system and the way we elect our leaders" because of how different their cultures are compared to the United States. Perhaps some of her students voted in their home countries, but it was a very long time ago. She noted that a large group of Laotian students had received their citizenship right before the election, and they did in fact register and vote. She felt that the Key to Community workshop was part of the information that helped them make this decision. "At first, not that many are that excited to become a citizen until they understand the concepts of democracy."
Barriers to participation
The barriers to participation for community involvement were consistent with the major themes that emerged in relation to voting.
Lack of information:
Many students were not aware of how to get involved in community activities. If they had a concern, they did not know what steps to take or what sources to contact. For example, a young mother in Baldwin Park had articulated a concern about gangs but said "I would really like to know where to direct myself or who to direct myself to" to work on this issue.
"I'm concerned about the young people and gangs but I don't know what to do, how to get people organized." - another Baldwin Park woman
"I would really like to get involved but I don't know about anything going on and don't know how to find out." - Berkeley woman
"Who would I go to to speak about the homeless, the streets being unclean, or writings on the wall? I wouldn't know who to contact." - Sacramento woman
Lack of connection:
Another fundamental impediment to community involvement is a lack of attachment to the issues, not understanding how they impact one's own life. Often, this lack of attachment appeared to be associated with a lack of connection to others in the community -- which in turn contributed to a sense of hopelessness.
"Many of our students lead very difficult lives. They're coming from: 'I've got all these realities pressing in on me. How will this make any difference?" - Sacramento teacher
"You take a stand by yourself and you see [the neighbors] in the background and they have no voice and they don't really seem to care...I've just moved when that's happened."
- Berkeley woman
"95% of the students don't get the paper but they use it in class and like it. They need to be introduced to the situations...When they hear some success stories from local people where change has occurred, sometimes they will believe it is possible."
- Chula Vista Administrator
Lack of self-confidence:
Several students did not feel that they had attained an adequate level of 'competence' to make them able to help others. These students tended to be embarrassed about their perceived lack of skills and these feelings were exacerbated by a lack of information about how to proceed.
"I have a lot of interests, but I'm not capable or qualified... I wouldn't know where to start. I wouldn't have anything to offer." - Berkeley woman
"I'm not active or involved. I'm just an everyday person." - Sacramento man
A Baldwin Park student says she has no affiliations "because no one has asked me to join." She has never worked with others on community problems because she has "never been aware of anything going on." She said she does not talk to others about what is going on, because she is afraid they would ridicule her for not knowing much about what is going on. This young woman is caught in self-fulfilling vicious cycle if there is no invitation for her to participate and a "safe" environment where she can overcome her fear.
Cultural Factors:
The site coordinators also shared that cultural background can discourage other types of civic involvement besides voting. An administrator at Rancho Santiago College has many students from Mexico where she says "both money and education are essential to someone feeling they have a right to get involved in community activities. It just doesn't occur to them that they might be able to get involved."
The coordinator at Baldwin Park added that involvement has been associated with "danger" for many of these students in the past. She also commented on the role of gender for immigrant students. For some female ESL students, developing their own point of view on political issues might not be supported at home. As an example of this limited autonomy, one man regularly attended a class where he was not a student to keep an eye on his wife who was.
Site Coordinator Perspective on Barriers
Observations of the site coordinators confirmed the similarities between the barriers to both types of participation that surfaced in the student interviews. The factors they cited most frequently were:
- apathy, not knowing that one person/one vote can make a difference
- fear of the process, not knowing what to do
- being overwhelmed by the language
- poor self-esteem
Many of the site coordinators particularly emphasized the issues of fear and embarrassment. Several explained that so many of their students had already had unsuccessful experiences learning new things and therefore felt labeled as 'stupid' or 'incompetent'. Hence, these students have a greater than average need for reassurance that they will be successful in undertaking a new task.
"They are very afraid of making a mistake....The students do have opinions about the issues and they know the importance of voting but the fear of 'doing it wrong' is holding them back." - Rancho Santiago Coordinator
"They really need to understand why they should vote, why they should take the trouble, what is the process for doing it, especially what is okay to do and what is not okay to do...not wanting to appear stupid about it." - Sacramento Regional Coordinator
"[The barrier is] fear! They don't feel they're capable of getting involved."
- San Jose Coordinator
The intimidation about the act of voting that many of the site coordinators referred to was greater among the young people and those with less education. Respondents who voted in the November 5th election were asked how they felt about the voting process:
The interviews also suggested that many of the new citizens were uncertain about whether they had voted correctly. One new citizen in Sacramento said that he only felt comfortable voting for President. When he left the polling place, he reported that he still was not sure if he had marked his ballot correctly.The site contacts also shared that they saw an interrelationship between all four of these barriers to involvement. For example, the contact at Rancho Santiago Community College touched on all the cited barriers while expressing a concern that it was unrealistic to expect an increase in community involvement after two sessions:
"The joining of community groups takes time...it happens when there is an issue they care about, and they need specific practical steps to understand how to get involved. Many of our students come from families or backgrounds where they have no experience with community involvement and need a lot of guidance in terms of knowing who to call, where to go and what to do."
"The students need more forums, they need to be exposed to the issues and that will empower them in understanding the power of voting, trying to spark that vision. After that, they need guidance and information so they will know where to go next."
- Sacramento teacher
"Some learners are not in a place where participating is something they see as important...Their low self-esteem contributes to their fear of sharing ideas."
- Santa Fe Springs coordinator
Probing Excuses
In the post-election questionnaire, the eligible respondents who decided not to vote were asked why they decided not to. The most common response was "no time/too busy." Other answers were "confusing wording/phrasing" and "unclear on procedure/exactly what to do." The 'too busy' answer was also the most common response in other California surveys of the Fall 1996 election like the Field poll.
In the qualitative interviews, the 'too busy' excuse as a reason to avoid involvement did not hold up under follow up questioning. For example, the Chinese woman who felt uncomfortable about her English language skills first said that she did not get involved in community activities because she was "too busy". After probing, she admitted that her real reason for not participating was that she was "really afraid that I won't understand what is going on."
"My husband's not in good health so I can't be active in the community now" was the explanation of a Marin woman. But she indicated a desire to get involved "in the future because I would feel better about myself if I could do something for the community."
"I've been ill...if I get involved I'll get sick again, so I've had to cut back. I wish there was another way I could do it without getting emotionally involved," was the pre-workshop claim of a middle-aged Berkeley woman. After the workshop, she gained enough confidence to say she wanted to get involved after all. "I don't know my neighbors and the workshop gave me the courage to go up and speak to people."
"You have to show some initiative to get involved and I don't have time" said a Sacramento man before the forum. Nonetheless, for this election, he reached out to family and friends and "got a lot of people to vote."
In the pre-forum interview, another man in Sacramento shared, "I could get involved in community organizations but it takes too much time." In the post-election interview, he mentioned that he has gotten involved in eliminating porn-related stores in his neighborhood. "That's different because it's affecting the kids...the kids hear about it and it's different than worrying about who's in office Ü it affects me in a personal way."