Opinion: An urgent appeal to the four major television networks

With the strong likelihood that the 2024 presidential election will again be a closely divided contest between Biden and Trump, it’s inarguable that every vote will matter more than ever. The problem is that American voters do not take their right to vote as seriously as they should, especially in off-year elections and primaries when a minority of voter participants determine who the candidates will be.

According to PEW Research, Americans voted in record numbers in the 2020 presidential election, casting nearly 158.4 million ballots. PEW’s data indicated that roughly two-thirds of the estimated eligible voters took part in the election. But, as NPR’s Domenico Montanaro reported back on Dec. 15, 2020, about the results of an Ipsos survey commissioned by NPR and the Medill School of Journalism of adults who did not vote, “…  that still means a third did not. That amounts to about 80 million people who stayed home.”

Shamefully, as the world’s beacon of democracy, U.S. voter participation in the 2020 election lagged far behind voter participation in national elections held in 49 other countries. The U.S. came in at number 31, PEW noted.

At a time when many would argue the future of America’s democracy will again be on the ballot in the 2024 presidential election, it’s imperative that significantly more voters need to cast ballots in this year’s critically important election. Indeed, increased voter participation in 2024 could make a difference in the outcomes in battleground states.

The question is what would be the most effective way to urge the public to exercise their right to vote. The idea for one suggested approach presented itself to me recently when I watched a public service announcement (PSA) on television warning the public, with stark imagery and hard-hitting facts, that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health. It got me thinking — what if there was a PSA or a series of PSAs that would compellingly argue the point that not voting is a threat to American democracy? Some of the suggested key points would be: there’s too much at stake in this year’s presidential election; make your vote count, starting now with the primaries and continuing with the decision day on Nov. 5; don’t leave it to others to determine America’s future — if you have not registered to vote, make sure you do.

My suggestion is for all four major television networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC), which command the largest combined viewing audience, collaborate and share the costs of producing a first-ever nationally televised “Get Out the Vote” PSA campaign. The networks would commit to an extensive and sustained schedule of airing the PSA(s) in prime time and other optimal viewing windows throughout the 2024 campaign year.

But, it would have to begin as soon as possible to address one of the findings of the Ipsos survey of those who did not vote in 2020 — that about 70% of them had not registered to vote.  Thus, one of the key objectives of the PSA campaign would be to help drive early voter registration.

Imagine how effective the PSAs would be if some of the prominent news journalists and/or stars of shows on the four networks participated on-camera, lending their personas and voices to this important cause, urging viewers to do their civic duty. In agreeing to jointly undertake this unprecedented initiative, the networks would have the opportunity to convey to the audiences their shared commitment to the right to vote, the very bedrock of America’s democracy. That would certainly be a first in the annals of network television but an essential, transformative step in providing a valuable public service at a time when it is most needed.

While each network might already do similar messaging on its own, my hope is that the four networks will explore the merits of undertaking together this unprecedented cooperative campaign. In so doing, they will build on the tradition begun in 1960 when the then three networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) broadcast the first nationally televised debate between presidential candidates Kennedy and Nixon. In so doing, the networks provided a valuable public service of bringing the candidates into the living rooms of the American voters. Democracy was and has since been very well served well by these televised debates to help voters make informed decisions.

Now it’s time for the four networks to begin a new chapter as major public service pillars to help inspire more Americans to vote this year by creating and implementing a high-impact 2024 “Get Out the Vote” PSA. But hurry; campaign season 2024 is well underway.

Frank Pagani is a public relations and marketing consultant. Hs firm, Pagani PR, is based in Ardsley.