Voter Turnout: Other Nations Overshadow U.S.

Even if voter turnout approaches a modern high-water mark in today's U.S. election, 30 percent to 35 percent of the American population still won't cast ballots. This means that even when American democracy is at its best, voter turnout ranks among the worst in the free world.

World leaders for voter turnout are Australia and Malta, where citizens have agreed to a process described as "mandatory voting." Typical turnouts are 95 percent, according to statistics compiled by wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.

Austria, Belgium, Italy and Luxembourg produce voter turnouts of 90 percent or higher. Nations between 80 percent and 89 percent include Iceland, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Venezuela, the Czech Republic, Brazil, the Netherland, Costa Rica, Norway, Romania, Bulgaria and Israel.

Ranking between 70 and 79 percent in voter turnouts are Portugal, Finland, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Ireland, Spain and Japan. Even Russia reaches a level of 61 percent, after so many years of repression.

The United States, "Arsenal of Democracy?" Average voter turnout from the past nine presidential elections is 54 percent, going back to 1972, the year of Richard M. Nixon's landslide victory over George McGovern.

Some political scientists blame Nixon for the slide in participation, saying he caused Americans to become cynical because of his misconduct in the Watergate cover-up of his political dirty tricks. However, U.S. turnout wasn't much better during the pre-Watergate era. In Franklin Roosevelt's famous 1932 victory over Herbert Hoover, which led to the New Deal, voter turnout was 52 percent.

Scholars are divided on reasons why United States voter turnout is so low. Some analysts note that voter registration is more difficult in the U.S. than in most other nations, and that lines are longer because of a lack of investment to create more polling places. Others point to the state-by-state workings of the Electoral College, which reduces the impact of an individual vote.

One point is that the candidates' political ads are more negative in the U.S. than in most places elsewhere. Another is that many Americans feel disenfranchised because a small upper elite controls most of the nation's wealth.

At any rate, the United States at least faces an upward trend in voter turnout. The low point in modern history was 49 percent for Bill Clinton's victory over Bob Dole in 1996, but the count has ratcheted upward to 57 percent for George W. Bush's victory over John Kerry in 2004. As low as it may seem, that was America's highest turnout since Nixon beat Humbert Humphrey in 1968.

Virtually all forecasters say today's voter turnout will exceed 57 percent, which means progress should continue at least for this election, slowly but probably unsurely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2004

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