Increasing Voter Turnout: It’s Tougher Than You Think

In 2016, political parties, candidates, and interest groups will spend about $ 10 billion on US presidential elections. Despite such large expenditure, the voter turnout is expected to remain calm. (In the general election in 2014, only 36% of the registered voters have voted and it was the lowest level in 72 years.) Nonprofit organizations and charitable organizations have long worked to improve voter registration and voter turnout It pours. Important elements and democracy

In this 15th series, election specialists in government, academia, private and non-profit sectors will explain important issues such as the following. Compared to what political parties and candidates have already done, what is the unique goal of the social sector? Which new or established interventions are most likely to improve voter turnout, which citizen group may have the greatest impact? To what extent do you expect the social sector really?

The series was a collaborative project with Kelly Born of William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, including Adam Berinsky of MIT, Kate Lydon of IDEO, George Cheung of Joyce Foundation, Elaine Kamarck of Brookings Institution. # turnoutvoters

The voter turnout rate is the proportion of qualified voters who voted in the election. After decades of increase, the voting rate of most established democracies has declined since the 1960 's. In general, low voter turnout may be due to disillusionment, indifference, or satisfaction. The low voter turnout is generally considered not popular, and there are many arguments about factors affecting the voting rate and how to raise the voting rate. Despite important research on this subject, scholars are against the reason for this reduction. The reason is due to various economic, demographic, cultural, technical and institutional factors.

Election voter turnout for 2004 and 2008 has increased significantly in 1996 and 2000. Prior to 2004, the voter turnout rate of the presidential election has declined and voter registration has increased. This is measured by the voting age population (VAP) of the US Census. However, the numerical value of VAP includes those who are ineligible for voting (primarily non-citizens and unqualified felons) and excluding eligible foreign voters. Whether this decrease is due to the disinterest of voters and opinion differences. Or increase the number of unqualified voters. Analysis of the voter turnout rate for 2004 and 2008 shows the difference between the two indicators. According to the US census survey in November 2008, according to the population of 50,000 households voting age, the voting rate of the elections in 2004 and 2008 was not statistically different.

The voter turnout rate can be measured in different ways using different denominators. This can be expressed as the number of qualified voters ("voting voting turnout rate"), the percentage of registered voters ("registered voter turnout rate") or sufficient age for voting ("voting age population voting rate") I will. It is easy to confuse misleading guesses about the relative health of democracy by confusing the way of participation of these various voters. This is especially true when comparing the US voter turnout (usually measured by qualified population of voters or population of voting age) to another country (usually measured based on voter turnout of registered voters).