Presentation by Dr. Kevin Lasher

• Old people vote more than young people

• Highly educated individuals vote more than less educated individuals

• Wealthy people vote more than poor people.

• Partisans/ideologues vote more than non-partisans.

US Turnout in Last Twenty Years

• 50-59% in presidential elections

• 30-39% in off-year elections

• Voting Age Population (VAP) Figures

1) Nature of elections

2) Weak political parties

3) Tuesday Voting

4) Registration laws

5) Apathetic citizens

Nature of elections

Nature of elections

• Numerous elections and many offices

• “Election overload”

• Educational differences point to the complexity of American elections

• Parliamentary systems may have one or two votes

• Multi-party systems have higher turnout than two party systems

Weak Political Parties

• Republicans and Democrats are NOT in the “turnout maximization” business; they are in the business of winning elections

Weak Political Parties

• 100 million voters

• 110 million voters

• 120 million voters

Get 50.1%

Weak Political Parties

1960 2008 Dem 43% Dem 34% Indep 23% Indep 40%Repub 32% Repub 26%

Weak Political Parties

Independents are much less likely to vote on election day than partisans (Republicans or Democrats)

Weak Political Parties

• Both parties have put more emphasis on voter mobilization in the last 10-15 years; may account for slight increase in turnout in last few elections

Tuesday Voting

• Raises “costs” of voting

• 1872 congressional law placing second Tuesday in November

• Many countries vote on week-ends

• Create a National Voting Day (every two years)

• Holiday or week-end voting might increase turnout by 5-7%

Registration Laws

• You must be registered to vote in order to vote

• “Costly” to register

• Used to be many restrictions on registration (most eliminated)

• It is VERY EASY to register to vote in 2014

• 1993 Motor Voter Law which enabled registration in many government offices

Registration Laws

• Registration rates have risen

• BUT percentage of registered who actually vote has fallen

• So easy to register that we have included a lot of “iffy” potential voters

Same Day Registration

Same Day Registration

• Nine states used SDR in 2012 election

SDR States 69%

Non-SDR States 58%

Every state using SDR would add 5-7% in overall turnout

Same Day RegistrationStates with highest turnout in 2012

MINNESOTA* 76.4%

WISCONSIN* 72.9%

NEW HAMPSHIRE* 70.9%

IOWA* 70.6%

MAINE* 69.3%

Vermont 67.7%

Maryland 67.3%

Virginia 66.5%

* SDR state

Apathetic Citizens

• No mandatory voting in US

• People are free to exercise their “right” to not vote

Apathetic Citizens

• Alienated citizens who are turned off by the nature of political campaigns or who honestly do not like the two main choices they are given

• These alienated voters could be “mobilized” with better campaigns (or better candidates)

Apathetic Citizens

• Truly apathetic citizens who do not care about politics

• Nothing will convince these people to participate (and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing)

Apathetic Citizens

• “Perfect voting turnout system” ….

• 80 - 85 % Turnout ?