Hi im Steve Clemons and i have a couple of questions why do almost half of americans not vote and what does this say about the legitimacy of americas leaders and political system lets get to the bottom line. America prides itself as one of the worlds great democracies in a vibrant democracy everyone has a say in how theyre governed so how can we explain why more than 100000000 americans simply dont vote more than 40 percent of the eligible population and why does america rank almost dead last when it comes to turnout rates in developed countries what does this disengagement mean for the policies and legislation in this country and what does it mean for the future of americas democracy fortunately were joined by people who have the answers to these questions in Miami Florida event alexander a director at the Knight Foundation which published a landmark study on american nonvoters last month named the 100000000 project in washington d. C. Ted johnson a senior fellow at the Brennan Center