Remarks to Members of the President's Commission on Registration and Voting Participation.
FOR the benefit of the press here, I would like to repeat that this is one of the most important assignments given to any group of citizens.
Our voting turnout is much too low, much less than other democracies in Western Europe, and we want to try to find out how we can simplify the laws to encourage voting and also why there is apathy which, according to Mr. Scammon, only provided for a 63.8 percent turnout in 1960 which was perhaps the highest in our history. We contrast that to Italy where they had only recently a 90 percent turnout for voting.
In a country with our educational system and our great tradition, we have to do much better, and I want to express my thanks to the committee which has worked on this problem.
Note: The President spoke at 11 :45 a.m. in his office at the White House. During his remarks he referred to Richard M. Scammon, Director of the Bureau of the Census and Chairman of the Commission.
John F. Kennedy, Remarks to Members of the President's Commission on Registration and Voting Participation. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/236128
