It's certainly fair to ask, if the Nones are such a small percentage of the voters, why should the Party devote more resources to this demographic?

The fact of the matter is, the reason the Nones vote at a lower rate than other demographics is because the Nones do not have any political leaders willing to acknowledge them. This is the position a lot of Secularists are put in: vote for the candidates whose party openly despises us, or the candidate whose party often denies we even exist. Who would want to go to the polls and put themselves in that position? Was that how the Democrats won the support of the LGBT community, or how it's going to win the support of the Latino community?

If anything, I think this is what drives the low voter turnout of the Nones.

What else could explain the low voter turnout amongst the Nones? Perhaps the Nones are just inherently disengaged from politics due to the nature of their ideologies.

If that were the case, the Nones would not be pushing their agenda through the many political advocacy groups for Secularism. There's Americans United for Separation of Church and State, American Humanist Association, Secular Coalition of America, American Atheists, Freedom From Religion Foundation, and the list goes on and on. All work for the civil rights and issues for the Nones and the values of separation of church and state, and these organizations show that the Nones do want more representation in US politics.

Most US politicians, and yes even Democrats, do not actively legislate and campaign for the support of the religiously unaffiliated, especially not at the rate at which they legislate and campaign for the support of religious groups. That is why it was such a big deal that Obama even acknowledged that the Nones existed in his inaugural address. And I think if the Democratic Party addressed this failure in outreach, they would see a boost in the turnouts.

So there's the increased voters aspect. There's also the potential untapped fundraising aspect.

For example, Doug Stanhope recently made waves when his indiegogo campaign raised over $120,000 for Oklahoma Atheist Rebecca Vitsmun. Penn Jillette, also worked to support and publicize Atheist generosity (Both Stanhope and Jillette are Libertarians). On microlending website kiva.org, the Nones have lended out more money than any other group, over $10 million dollars, at roughly $400 per member.

Now, these are all examples of the Nones donating their money to charitable programs, and not political campaigns. And it's not like we could automatically assume that just because somebody donates money to charity, they would also donate to a politician's campaign.

But imagine if all the Atheists and Secularists who are willing to donate to those charitable campaigns actually found upon the political stage a candidate who actually spoke to them and for them? I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I have no doubt the same generous aspect of the Secular community would directly benefit such a candidate.

If the Democratic Party were to make a serious effort at targeting the Nones, not only could they improve the voter turnout of the Nones, but at the same time capture a larger percentage of the Nones. And this might be a bit of a stretch, but by showing that the Nones have more political representation, Democrats could even accelerate the growth of the demographic of Nones itself, reinforcing the benefits that come from improving their voter turnout and political engagement.

So what can the Democratic Party do to more visibly engage the Secular Community?

Defend the principle of the separation of church and state, including in the public schools, religious displays in public spaces, and the public subsidization of religious schools.

Treat Atheists and Secular Humanists and other non-religious groups the same as religious groups.

In addition to supporting Days of Prayer, support Days of Reason.

Every now and then, when a representative is called upon to give a prayer or invocation while in an official capacity, use a Secular prayer.

Meet with Secular and Humanist groups, but it would also help to do so publicly.

And you know, just in general, acknowledge that we exist.

This is not about preventing religious groups, or politicians who belong to those groups, from practicing or proclaiming their faiths. This is about protecting the non-religious groups' rights and liberties to not have to practice or proclaim a faith, if that is their choice.

If the Democratic Party tried some of these things more often and showed that they are a genuine ally of the Nones, I believe they will see that the Secular community will appreciate what they are doing, and will show their support at the polls.

I'm not gonna lie. I would like to see the Atheist/Secular/Non-religious community better represented, recognized, and respected by our country's political leaders. I would also like to see the Democratic Party benefit the most from the growing None demographic. But the way things are going now, neither of these are guaranteed. The best thing I think I can do is work to convince Democrats that moving forward, they should work harder to welcome the Atheist/Secular community into their ranks, and perhaps a little of vice versa.

This past week, we've seen kos mobilize this community to support a potentially strong ally in Wendy Davis. You could say I'm trying to mobilize this same community to support a potentially strong ally in the Secular community.