Lynn Swann's Voting Record - Will it Matter?

It has been revealed that Republican Lynn Swann's voting record over the past couple of decades has been very poor. He didn't register to vote until 1984, despite living in Bethel Park since 1976, and since his first vote in 1987 he has voted in just 17 of 43 elections - and not at all from 1989 to 1991. Analysts say that this won't hurt his campaign, but perhaps it should.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:

"It's not unusual for celebrity candidates, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jesse Ventura, to have spotty voting records," said G. Terry Madonna, a pollster at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster. "It's not lethal because voting hasn't been a central feature of their existence."

Tom Baldino, a political science professor at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, said how much damage has been done to Mr. Swann depends in large part on what use Mr. Rendell and the Democrats make of it. "Suppose they make a 30-second TV spot this fall asking 'Why isn't he voting? He claims he cares about the people of Pennsylvania, but did he ever care about politics? He didn't vote.'"

"I think my voting record is fine," [Lynn Swann] said. ..."People come to politics from all walks of life. Some have political experience and some don't. It doesn't mean you can't do a good job."

Swann is correct that people come to politics from all walks of life. Politics can be helped by the participation of citizen-politicians rather than just professional politicians. If his voting record is criticized on the basis of Swann's lacking political experience, however, that would be a mistake. Swann is conflating two separate issues because when someone is criticized for their lack of 'political experience,' what is meant is their lack of job experience - the fact that they haven't held elected or appointed office in the past.

This may or may not be a legitimate criticism, but that isn't the issue here and Swann surely knows that. The issue here is Swann's failure to participate in the political process - the issue isn't that he lacks 'political experience' as a citizen-politician, but that he lacks experience as an engaged citizen in the first place.

Up to now, Lynn Swann has never cared enough about politics, about the issues facing Pennsylvania, or about his community to vote on a regular basis. He hasn't even cared enough about the Republican Party to regularly participate in Republican primaries. Sure, as an athlete he's had to be away a lot, but that's what absentee ballots are for - they're easy to use. Can someone be an engaged citizen-politician if they haven't proven that they can be an engaged citizen? Can someone contribute substantively as a citizen-politician if they can't even contribute an absentee ballot vote most of the time?
I believe that this matters for the same reason that voting itself matters. Voting isn't merely a right that one exercises occasionally, but a precondition for the democratic process and fundamental aspect of one's membership in the larger political community. Voting is participation in the general decision-making process which governs what will happen to you, to your neighbors, and to your community overall. This is why, in a few countries, voting is required by law - you aren't allowed to evade your responsibility to yourself and others to play a role in social government.

That's exactly what Lynn Swann has done for so many years, though, and it's something we should all care about. We should care that he's side-stepping the issue by conflating his failure to be an engaged citizen with his lack of political experience. Perhaps this isn't enough to justify not voting for him at all, but it's certainly enough to expect him to answer some very pointed questions.

What does he think the duties and responsibilities of a citizen in a democracy are and does he believe he has lived up to them in the past? If he didn't care enough about issues, problems, and politics in Pennsylvania enough in the past to even file absentee ballots, why does he care enough now to run for governor? Can he be trusted to continue caring enough to do the hard job the would face him?

Perhaps asking him about his voting record is 'nitpicking' as he claims, but these questions that follow from it are not nitpicking at all; instead, they cut right to the heart of what democracy is about and whether Lynn Swann deserves the votes which he has denied other candidates in the past.

Just for the record, it appears that not too long ago Lynn Swann himself would have agreed. An interview with the Sun-Sentinel newspaper in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from October 2004 quotes Swann as saying: "I have always been someone to believe that when you have certain freedoms, you should exercise them and not take it for granted. If you don't take part in the process and you don't vote, then I am not willing to listen to your complaints." Why shouldn't Pennsylvania voters turn around and say the same thing to him when it comes time to vote?

-- Guest Blogger, Austin Cline