This story was produced by The Oaklandside in partnership with Oakland Voices. Oakland Voices interviewed casual voters. The Oaklandside analyzed the interviews to reveal a lack of faith in electoral politics to bring about change, and a desire for better information.
Oaklanders began voting by mail for this year’s general election on Oct. 7. Some will choose to vote in person on or before Election Day, Nov. 5. However local voters choose to participate, recent elections suggest they’ll be doing so at a higher rate than people in many other parts of the country.
The U.S. had its highest voter turnout this century during the last presidential election in 2020, when about 67% of eligible citizens cast ballots. Voter participation in Oakland that same year was even higher — between 70% and 85%, depending on the voting district (with North Oakland and the hills having higher turnout than the East Oakland flatlands), according to research compiled and shared with The Oaklandside by the League of Women Voters Oakland.
But even in a place with relatively robust civic participation like Oakland, voters everywhere appear to share one trait: inconsistency. According to Pew Research, only 37% of eligible voters in the U.S. cast a vote in all three of the past three elections, in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
So being an inconsistent voter is, in a word, normal.
Our newsroom wanted to hear from some of these Oakland voters, who we’re calling “casual voters,” to understand what would make them feel confident voting this year. Our hope was to gain insights that could guide our election reporting and help us better serve residents with information they can use about the city races and local measures that will be appearing on their 2024 ballot.
Who we spoke to, and how we listened
For the purposes of this listening campaign, we defined casual voters broadly as any Oakland resident who is eligible to vote, but doesn’t always. This means we didn’t seek out non-citizens or minors who can’t vote, even though these groups are also impacted by election outcomes. We did, however, look to interview eligible immigrant voters for whom English is not their first language. Because turnout has historically been lower in the East Oakland flatlands, we also prioritized interviewing voters in Districts 5, 6 and 7.
Our aim wasn’t to conduct a poll; we weren’t interested in getting a lot of data that would allow us to draw definitive conclusions about Oakland voters. Rather, we wanted to speak in-depth with a small group of Oakland casual voters to get a more personal understanding of their feelings and perspectives on voting, similar to a focus group. Since we weren’t using the interviews for a traditional news article, we granted anonymity to those who requested it (some did) and offered participants a gift card upon completion of their interview as a show of thanks.
To do the listening work, the Oaklandside partnered with Oakland Voices‘ network of local correspondents to reach a diverse cross-section of local voters.
Working with a small group of Oakland Voices program alumni, The Oaklandside developed a set of roughly a dozen questions about voting, anchored by one main question: What would make you feel confident voting this year?
Over a couple of months this summer, the Oakland Voices community correspondents identified and interviewed 15 eligible Oakland voters representing diverse backgrounds and areas, ranging in age from 18 to 67, who fit our broad description of a casual voter. Of the community members interviewed, 12 were from the East Oakland flatlands; 8 spoke a language other than English at home (Spanish, Cantonese or Vietnamese); and three were newly eligible to vote for the first time this year due to age or a recent change in their citizenship status.
After recording and transcribing the interviews, we reviewed them to identify themes and major takeaways. Here’s some of what we heard.
- Distrustful of politics, and wanting better election information
- Time can be a barrier, and divisive politics are a turn-off
Distrustful of politics, and wanting better election information
The people who we spoke to expressed a wide range of feelings and opinions about voting, local and national politics, and about the issues they care about most this election season. But several themes rose to the surface when it came to the central question of what would allow them to feel confident voting.
One, although it was stated in various ways, was a general distrust of politicians and skepticism that voting would improve their daily lives. Several said they would feel more confident voting if elected officials followed through on their campaign promises.
Below are some quotes that reflect that sentiment, lightly edited for readability.
Several said having access to less confusing and more trustworthy information about the elections — both the individual races and the voting process — would increase their confidence in voting.
Time can be a barrier, and divisive politics are a turn-off
For some of the voters we spoke to, getting access to helpful information about the elections was less of a challenge than finding the time in their lives to research everything appearing on the ballot. For these residents, day-to-day demands on their time take precedence over getting up to speed on races and ballot measures.
Nearly everyone we interviewed was aware of the option to vote by mail. Yet roughly half said their preference has been or would be to vote in person, and that doing so could be made easier for them and others whose work schedules don’t line up well with voting center hours on Election Day.
One Spanish-speaking resident said she went to vote in person one year not having read about the election beforehand. She found the process laborious and wished there could have been someone at the voting center to assist her in the voting booth.
Lastly, some of the voters we interviewed expressed being weary of overly polarized or vitriolic political discourse. Some shared they prefer to refrain from political participation altogether for fear of being judged or attacked for their views.
To learn more about how The Oaklandside is using this information in its reporting or working with Oakland teens, read the full article.
What would make you feel confident voting this year?
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