You can buy the candidates on the ballot, but you can’t bring the people to vote. Roughly three hundred million dollars has been pumped into California’s midterm elections, according to The Center for Responsive Politics, but voter turnout is expected to set record lows this Tuesday.

The Field Poll, a California-based polling agency, predicts that less than half of registered voters and only a third of those eligible to vote will ultimately cast a ballot. While the disappointing numbers are unlikely to hinder the Democrats in maintaining their virtual lock on positions of power within the state’s government, they nevertheless lend clarity to what is a more significant development in California politics.

Congress has become America’s most notorious institution, with its approval at an all-time low of seven percent. However, this anger has not translated into greater turnout at the polls. In fact, one effect of rising congressional disapproval has been to discourage voting in particular and political involvement in general: more Americans than ever (correctly) feel disassociated from the political sphere.

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Explanations for the discontent are not difficult to find. A recent study coming out of Princeton titled “Affluence and Influence” has found that there is virtually no relationship between policy outcomes and the desires of those in the bottom seventy percent of household income; that is, seventy percent of the country is effectively disenfranchised—and knows it.  

The Public Policy Institute of California, for instance, predicts that California voters will be predominantly old, rich and better educated, probably in part due to the recognition on behalf of the young, poor and lesser educated that their demands hold little sway over candidates forced to fight over the few pocketbooks large enough to finance an election that has cost nearly a third of a billion dollars.    

In addition to the inequality of influence, the predictability of election outcomes has furthered the decline of California voters. With this being the first time in California’s history that the total number of voters not registered with either major party is larger than the number registered as Republican, the only question about the results in the state legislature is whether Democrats will earn a majority or a super-majority.  

As one might expect, the voters’ blood is hardly quickened by the struggle between a state congress becoming either solid-blue or a shade purple.

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Six ballot measures have been included in this year’s election, such as Prop 1, a multi-billion water infrastructure bond that the recent drought has pushed to the center of the political stage, along with Prop 2, hotly-debated measure for budget reform.  

Massive amounts of money has been poured into these races as well, with advertisements flooding every form of media. These ads tend to be low on content and high on rhetoric. A recent commercial against Prop 46 (concerning doctor drug testing and medical negligence) cycled through a cast of doctors in pristine white lab coats announcing that the measure “just doesn’t make sense,” “could have dire consequences for so many in California” and that “it’s just not what it seems,” without ever really explaining what ‘it’ is.

The constant barrage often confuses voters, leaving them unsure who to trust and what the facts are. As one Palm Springs resident told ABC News, “I feel I just wouldn’t vote because I don’t know anything about it.”

While future races may hold more competitive excitement, if systemic problems in the election process are not resolved, there is every reason to believe that the dip in voter turnout will further sink.  

Here’s hoping it doesn’t. 

Reach Staff Reporter Duncan Gammie here.