When is a government not a government?

Two statistics caught my eye. The first came from the California Secretary of State on the November election. 56.2% of the eligible voters came to the polls in November but of those 41.5% cast their votes by absentee. Thus, only about a third of the possible voters thought it was important enough to show up on election day.

According to the Tax Foundation, about a third of the households file no income tax. In the last fifty years the percentage has varied from just under 20% to the current levels. But since the passage of the 2001 Act, the percentage of non-filers has increased at a fairly steady clip from about 27% to the current 32.4%. These taxpayers are over-whelmingly at under $30,000 income.

My suspicion is that the non-voters are also in the same demographics. But the question I have is at what point the non-participants no longer have an oar in the water? It is great to eliminate taxpayers with little or no income from the tax system. It is also pretty important to assure that a bunch of voters can exercise their franchise in a way that suits their lifestyle. But when does that become a problem for democratic institutions?