Why people don’t vote, and what to do about it
Why people don’t vote, and what to do about it
U.S. voter turnout is low compared to other developed countries. Here are some reasons why
by Bethany Brookshire November 4, 2016
Voter turnout in the United States is incredibly low compared to other modern democracies. In the 2012 presidential election, 53.6 percent of the voting-age population turned out to vote. This puts the United States well behind countries such as Turkey (84.3 percent turnout in 2015) and Belgium (87.2 percent in 2014), where voting is compulsory. But the U.S. also lags behind other countries with voluntary voting, such as Sweden (82.6 percent turnout in 2014), France (71.6 percent in 2012) and many others. In fact, the U.S. ranks 31st out of 35 developed countries in voter turnout, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.
... Why don’t people vote?
Below are four well-studied reasons why people may not head to the polls on November 8, followed by four tactics to get more people to go to the ballot box.
Voter registration takes work.
In many countries, people are automatically registered to vote. Not so in the United States. ...........
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