NYT Indicts Israel’s Democracy… Again

On January 17, on page A3, you might have seen yet another in the long line of articles in The New York Times questioning Israel’s democracy. Jodi Rudoren’s “As Israeli Vote Nears, Arab Apathy Is a Concern” was only into its fourth paragraph when the reporter stated:

With Israel heading to the polls on Tuesday, the two intensifying sources of apathy are raising new concerns here over the health of Israeli democracy. Experts say a social media campaign to boycott the election and a growing frustration with Arab lawmakers’ focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rather than local concerns like crime, poverty and unemployment, threaten to depress Arab turnout below 50 percent.

A social media campaign by Arabs aimed at Arabs is not a sign that Israel’s democracy is sick. It is evidence of the freedom of political speech enjoyed by Israeli Arabs. And a frustration with ineffective politicians is again not a symptom of a weak democracy. It’s the universal condition of voters. The thesis of the article is that voter turnout among the Arab minority might dip below 50 percent and this is evidence that Israel’s democracy is under threat.

Well then, the United States must be in a pickle. According to the Center for Voting and Democracy:

After rising sharply from 1948 to 1960, turnout declined in nearly every election until dropping to barely half of eligible voters in 1988. Since 1988, it has fluctuated, from a low of 52.6% of eligible voters (and 49.1% of voting age population) in 1996 to a high of 61% of eligible voters in 2004, the highest level since 1968.

[…]

Low turnout is most pronounced in off-year elections for state legislators and local officials as well as primaries. In many cities, for example, mayors of major cities often are elected with single-digit turnout ; for example, turnout was only 5 percent of registered voters in a recent Dallas mayoral election, 6 percent in Charlotte, and 7 percent in Austin. Congressional primaries have similarly low turnout; for example, turnout was only 7 percent in a recent Tennessee primary, and was only 3 percent for a U.S. Senate primary in Texas. A statewide gubernatorial election in Kentucky has a turnout of only 6 percent since Kentucky gubernatorial elections are held in the off-off-year between mid-term congressional election and presidential elections was scheduled at a time when there were no elections for federal office. North Carolina’s runoff elections have seen turnout as low as 3 percent in statewide elections.

What about minority voters? According to the Pew Research Center, in the 2008 presidential election, voter turnout among Latino Americans was at an all-time high of 49.9 percent and among Asian Americans, another all-time high of 47 percent. Last time I checked, that’s below 50 percent. (2012 figures are as yet unavailable.)

If low voter turnout and minority voter turnout below 50 percent means a democracy is sick, the United States needs to check into the hospital. Or maybe, The Times should just get off its kick of criticizing Israel’s democracy. CAMERA suggested the news media resolve to do just that for 2013. Just two weeks into the year and already the Grey Lady has fallen short.