Voter Turn Out

Voter Turnout

By Megan Murray

In the United States voting is a right, but not everyone takes full advantage of this right. Every election there are millions of people that do not vote, and silence their voice in politics.

Here is a graph of the voter turnout in each Presidential election since 1828:

Though the official figures from the 2012 election have not been released, the Bipartisan Research Center has stated that the turnout for 2012 was 57.5 percent of the eligible voters. This is a decrease from 2008, which they said was 62.3 percent.

Why are there so many eligible voters that don’t vote?

“A lot of people who don’t participate in U.S. elections don’t see a lot of difference between the parties and they don’t see their specific issues represented,” Sabatini told The Huffington Post. Though it seems like a bad thing, at least there is some security in this type of feeling. Their lives will not be turned upside down by the winner of the election and there is no fear of either candidate’s ideals. But this is not true for everyone. There are people that willingly choose not to vote.

Here is a graph of the main reasons registered voters do not vote:

There is no way to get the people that simply don’t care to start caring and vote, but there are other reasons that can be fixed.

There are six states with a voting turnout much higher than the national average. The other states should see their techniques and learn from them to up their own voter turnout.

The sixth highest state is Oregon. The main reason for Oregon’s high voter turnout, which is nearly 8.5 percentage points above the average, is the vote-by-mail only system. Voters receive an information pamphlet three weeks before the election, followed a few days later by their ballots. This means that Election Day is not one day, but almost two weeks, because each person has that much time to look over the ballet and make their decision.

South Dakota is ranked fifth in the nation. “South Dakota is part of the collection of Upper Midwest states where a strong sense of community, civic duty, and civility in political discussion are abundant,” Bryan Dettrey, an assistant professor at the University of South Dakota, writes in an e-mail. “These cultural factors contribute to higher levels of turnout.” This tradition has contributed greatly to the high voter turnout. “Voting behavior in a culture or community is an acquired habit,” Dr. Ostermeier says. “It doesn’t begin or end with one election cycle – it is generations in the making.” There are also close races in the state that make each person feel like their vote matters and that adds to the high number of voters.

Alaska’s eligible voter turnout rate – 60.42 percent – is attributed to competitive gubernatorial and senatorial races in the past several elections. A new Senate representative recently won as a write in candidate, and there are usually third parties running in most elections. This excitement in elections gets most people in Alaska out to the polls consistently.

Wisconsin has the third highest voter turnout percent in the United States. Some of Wisconsin’s history resembles that of South Dakota, and voting has become almost an expected behavior. The fact that voters can register on election day also increases the number of people that have to opportunity to vote and along with the close races recently.

Maine was the first state to institute same-day registration in 1973, which is a main reason for its 62.1 percent average turnout. Though there is rarely a third party candidate the two polarized parties are always in close races that really get people coming out to the polls.

The third Upper Midwest state on the list, Minnesota has had the highest voter turnout in 12 of the past 16 elections, including the past eight straight. Minnesota’s average eligible voter turnout in the past six elections – 67.6 percent – is 16.4 percentage points higher than the national average. This is mainly due to diminishing the barriers to vote. There is same day Registration and polling places that are easily accessible. Minnesota is also very patriotic so people feel how important the responsibility of voting really is.

In short states that make it easier to vote and consistently have close races generally have a higher voter turnout. It is important that every person has the chance to have their voice heard in politics. Some of these barrier breaking policies would be beneficial to spread to the rest of the country to increase the percent of votes and get everyone active and involved.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/voter-turnout-latin-america_n_2093819.html

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/11/05/why-dont-people-vote/