The Carter Center in Atlanta has monitored many elections in third world countries such as East Timor and Zambia where the turnout rate of eligible voters has exceeded 80% or better. In contrast, the Committee for the Study of the Electorate, part of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, estimates that only 67% of eligible Americans are registered to vote and that only 51% actually cast ballots in the 2000 Presidential race. In states such as Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Texas, voter turnout dropped below 45%. Consequently, the winning candidate, President George Bush, received less than 25% of the total eligible vote. It becomes clear, then, that winners of such elections may only serve the 25% that put them in office instead of the 75% who share another view. This disparity reinforces feelings by some individuals that their vote does not count.

Voter apathy becomes even more real when politicians not only fail to advance a cause in which their constituents believe, but instead, actively work against it. Such has been the case with medical marijuana time and again. Democrat officials, in particular, who must have sensed constituent support for medicinal cannabis, either sat silently or actively advanced provisions of the Drug War that led to the abuse of patients in the course of enforcing drug laws. Some potential voters, believing that they can’t affect change, do nothing, including cast their ballot.