Midterm voter turnout was the lowest in 72 years.

[CBHagman]

From MaddowBlog:

[url]http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-turnout-statistic-republicans-hate-most[/url]

In his post-election press conference, President Obama mentioned in his opening remarks, “[T]o everyone who voted, I want you to know that I hear you. To the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too.”

Republicans were furious. By noting that two-thirds of the public didn’t bother to show up for the midterm elections, the president was subtly suggesting the Republicans’ victories were less impressive.

The trouble is, Obama was correct. Jose DelReal reported this morning:

General election voter turnout for the 2014 midterms was the lowest it’s been in any election cycle since World War II, according to early projections by the United States Election Project.

[yeoman6987]

1. I wish it would mean more to the media that nobody voted

There should be some sort of results to that (like maybe Republicans cannot take the majority and has to share duties).....lol. I know I am dreaming. However, it is ridiculous that nothing will happen even knowing that the population didn't vote and not only that had the lowest in 72 years.

[TDale313]

2. So, how much did the voter suppression laws/efforts impact this?

I think it's a valid question.

[fasttense]

3. There was a lot of purging of voters going on here in TN

and then all the stupid a** amendments that were rigged on the stupid a** voting computers. I really didn't believe my vote would be counted and I've been avoiding voting because of it. But I broke down and voted anyway. I totally understand why people don't want to go through the pretense that their votes are really counted.

We all know the elections are rigged, voting feeds into the lie. But I voted just to make them have to switch it over.

[dmosh42]

4. The message is not to have anything but criticism and you'll win!(Repukes)

There's no answer when we only have dumb fucks for citizens!

[otohara]

5. Mitch McConnell Thanks You America

and especially those youngsters who claim to know everything when they say "voting doesn't matter"

[NorthCarolina]

6. Proof that voter suppression efforts are quite effective. nt

[Abouttime]

7. Ignore congress

President Obama should follow the lead of the vast majority of Americans and ignore congress. Automatically veto everything sent to him, no negotiations, no grand bargains, nada, don't even mention them. Use the bully pulpit to connect to the vast majority of people who voted for him. Sweeping executive orders take the place of messy legislation, the people want it done, just do it Mr. President, we've got your back!

[NorthCarolina]

14. I think it is more likely that

he WILL work with this new Congress for TPP, Keystone XL, defund the EPA, fix Social Security with Chained CPI....you know, the usual. I suppose I could be wrong, overly pessimistic, but I'm not holding my breath.

[lame54]

8. that's why the repugs are calling this a mandate

[Darb]

9. I don't believe that it is just suppression,

I think it has something to do with the black boxes.

[gmb92]

10. I'm not sure why Republicans are supposed to be angry over that

They still turned out more voters, 19% of eligible voters to 17%. So while it might be pathetic to call 19% a mandate, the other 64% (those that weren't denied the vote due to voter suppression laws at least), effectively indicated they don't care. Low overall turnout is what Republicans thrive on, and they actively work on suppressing the vote, both directly (voter suppression laws) and indirectly (fostering cynicism and disenfranchisement through obstructionism and 24/7 media). The latter is a bigger problem. There's a huge dropoff between presidential elections for Democratic voters, young voters especially. Some don't take the time to really research the candidates. Some don't think elections beyond the presidential one matter much. Others fall back on the lazy "both parties are the same" mantra (then express further dismay when elections results end up in even less progressive and more right-wing agendas, blaming the Democrats for it) while Republicans are good at scaring their target audience into thinking Democrats are evil communists.

[Darb]

11. Don't forget the effect of gerrymandering. Why vote when

it is predisposed that you will lose by 15%. They have got a good thing going for themselves and their corporate masters.

How do we break it?

[Cal33]

12. It's the cumulative effect of every dirty trick: gerrymandering, voter suppression, rigged

electronic voting machines ... etc. ... The main result is that whenever voter turnout is low,
it helps the Republicans. From reading the Internet I thought that Democrats were doing all
they could to make as sure as possible that the numbers of Democrats voting would go up.
But this mid-term election had the lowest turnout in 72 years!

It could quite possibly be that to win even by an official 1%, Democrats really need to beat
Republicans by an actual margin of 7 or 8 percent because of the cheating involved.

It looks like we are simply going to accept this state of affairs forever.

[davishenderson265]

13. It's the only reason why the GOP won.

North Carolina was a great example.