50% voter turnout Presidential Elections... Are there any parts of the

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

country where voter turnout is relatively higher or lower than other parts? Cities versus rural? Coast versus flyover?

Anyone know the skinny on this?

[proud patriot]

1. Excellent Question

I'd be interested in that info too :hi:

[liberalpragmatist]

2. Minnesota and Wisconsin apparently have high rates

In the high 50% range or lower-to-mid 60% range. Of course, they have a history of civic involvement and activism. But a key factor is same-day voter registration.

And though I don't know for sure, I would speculate that Oregon, which does mail-balloting, had high turnout rates in 2000.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. Thanks for this info. n/t

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. Maine is both a same-day...

...and high turnout state as well

[Wonk]

6. Here it is broken down state by state, from the 2000 election

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/vto.php?year=2000&datatype=national

The top map is by Voting Age Population, and the bottom one is by Registered Voters

Also, if you go here
http://www.uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/
you can sort by many other categories as well.

(disclaimer: I'm not sure how accurate their data is. Data from some States seems incomplete.)

[serryjw]

4. Fabulous website to answer your question

http://mwhodges.home.att.net/election2000.htm

[Kitka]

5. Somewhat related bit of info I heard today.....

on NPR. Not sure who said it, sorry, but it said that 66 year old women were most likely of all demographics to vote. Least likely were 22 year old males, who voted even less frequently then 100 year old men!

[AndyTiedye]

8. Could be Highest Turnout in Years

If turnout for the primaries is any indication, we could see the
highest turnout in years for the general election. Even in places
where the primary was all but meaningless, turnout was high enough
to run some locations out of ballots.

The higher the better. Low turnout favors the Republicans, because
the Bible thumpers always vote, and they almost all vote Republican.

Unexpectedly high turnout can also bollox up some of the expected
vote-rigging schemes. Florida's "felon" lists might not be long
enough. The machinez might not be programmed to steal enough votes
(we know their programmers aren't very good -- we've seen their code!).

Surveys try to poll "likely voters", but an election like this one
could bring some pretty unlikely voters to the polls.