With all its campaigns, rallies and speeches, the United States election is an event viewed around the globe.
The candidates are often announced two years before the actual election day.
For example, former president Donald Trump announced his candidacy back in 2022, while elections are happening in 2024.
This two year period is when all the attention is on the candidates as they make promises about how they’ll improve our country.
The intense media focus on the Democrat versus Republican headlines can be exhausting for the average person.
The lengthy election process is easily exploited by the media, even after most voters have decided on their candidate.
Putting voters who basically solidify their decisions from the first couple months through such a drawn-out process is an easy way to lose people’s interests in voting and understanding how campaigning works. It is exhausting for the people to hear the same thing on the news about elections everyday.
Multiple polls from the Washington Post illustrate how Americans have lost interest in voting. In a poll about political interest, a third of individuals said they weren’t highly invested in the 2024 presidential election.
When compared to other elections, there is no reason to have so much time on something that is practically decided from the start. Americans prefer to vote for their political party rather than focus on what the important issues are. For example, the elections in the UK only last 48 days, which is plenty of time to get votes in and for the candidates to say their piece.
Canada also has a short election time, going by their 36-day voting calendar. These countries show us that there is no reason the US needs as much time as it takes when others can get it done in only a few months.
Evidently, the US maintains a notably prolonged process. This causes problems in the amount of funds spent on campaigns and preparation.
According to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit research group, over $14 billion were used in the 2020 election alone. It’s understandable that a lot of money is spent on campaigning and promotions, but so much economic focus on the elections alone takes attention off of ongoing, immediate issues the country faces.
With the elections gathering so much excitement, matters like inflation, illegal immigration and affordable health care slip away from the eyes of both the public and politicians.
If we shorten our election time, the resulting saved money can be better used on different necessities that would benefit our country such as affordable housing, raising standards for working conditions and helping students pay off debt.
For the sake of our resources and sanity, somebody please make the elections shorter.
