This November, I voted for the third time in the United States (2016, 18, 20). Having been in the US here for 19 years and the only place where I voted ever, one thing that fascinated me is that only around 40% of Americans register as independents and around 90% lean Republican or Democrat. In many states, the system also encourages registering as a Republican or Democrat by holding closed primaries providing a clear incentive to register with one party. I think there is overall agreement that this is bad for the country (dysfunctional congress, polarization, lack of dialogue, filter bubbles to name a few).
As Product Managers, we often think about the default choice when users have multiple options to choose from. Defaults matter because it’s our stake in the ground on what would best fit most users. We sometimes also put recommended next to the default if we additionally think users must understand consequences before switching to something else. I would like registering as an independent as default with recommended next to it.
If every vote were potentially a swing vote, even on paper, I would bet that Congress would be less dysfunctional and more work done for the people. And the nation would begin to heal from polarization. To make political parties earn our vote, the best way is to register as independents and push for a system where there is no down side in the political process of doing so.
