RE: Public support for elections

[Rod Cameron <Rodcm@aol.com>]

I, too, am discouraged by low voter turnout.  The ways campaign financing affects that seem to include the following:
The amount of money and the perceived influence makes voters cynical and makes them feel powerless; Often the more money in a campaign, the more negative the campaign-- thus voters get turned off by the process; candidates target people who vote and the affluent to make the best use of their funds-- thus many who do not vote or are less affluent (including young voters) are not getting the message as often as those who are involved.  Generally this tends to drive down participation.  My inclination is that public funding of campaigns would alleviate some of these effects.