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Washington Among the Tops in Voter Turnout
1
Possibly the best in the country? Um, Oregon released their final numbers this week and we were at 82.8%. Sorry, Washington. :)
P.S. 75.4% of our eligible voters were registered.
P.S. 75.4% of our eligible voters were registered.
2
Ahem. Addendum to my PS. 75.4% of our eligible voters were registered, meaning our turnout as a % of eligible voters actually kind of sucked.
3
Yet 2/3 of the voters voting for I-1085 doesn't represent democracy. Do you know what a jackass you look like in this post?
7
You know what, it's still one of the best in the nation any way you look at it. I'm just proud that I live in a state, and a county, that is so politically active.
8
I don't know... Yes, it would be great if we could get more people registered. But how? I recently renewed my drivers license at the DMV. I had to actively turn down voter registration (because I'm already registered). The state already makes it pretty fucking easy to register, and has resisted playing any of the crazy disenfranchisement games going on in other states. It takes so little effort to register that I have to assume that those that aren't registered simply don't give a shit at all.
9
I imagine that the Election Project will eventually look at how things like voting by mail and early voting contribute to turnout? After seeing the reports of people waiting forever to vote, I can't believe that more states haven't adopted mail balloting.
10
Voter turnout is always calculated based on total registered voters. Sure, it doesn't account for all eligible voters, but that's another issue.
11
I'm not sure why we even have to register people to vote in the first place. Why not just make it so that if you're a citizen of the state, you are automatically 'registered' to vote? Why make it a separate process to register to vote at all?
12
@8 You would think so, I live in Maine which lets you register on voting day, makes early and absentee voting extremely easy, has no ID requirements, and is unusual in having no restrictions based on criminal record (including for prisoners), and we don't have universal registration. Some people just can't be bothered to vote. I would love to move to an Australian system where every citizen is automatically registered when they turn 18 and voting is compulsory (though the later is likely unconstitutional).
13
@12 - Some people also don't see the point of voting. When political institutions like congress have such a low approval rating, political alienation is likely to be high and first past the post systems tend to disenfranchise many.
Great post Goldy.
Great post Goldy.
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