Factors Affecting Voter Turnout In The United States

Voter turnout in the United States is much lower than that of other countries. According to a Pew Research Center article by Drew Desilver, voter turnout in the United States ranked 31st among the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In comparison to our North American neighbors, Mexico and Canada ranked 18th and 29th respectively. Ranking at number one and two were Belgium and Turkey, however those countries have a compulsory voting system which explains the high voter turnout. Topping the polls for non-compulsory countries were Sweden at number three and Denmark at number four. Only Japan (32nd), Chile (33rd) and Switzerland (35th)fell below the United States. Numerous factors affect voter turnout in the United States. For example, some voters can’t get time off work, are on vacation or consider themselves too busy to cast their vote. Other times voters don’t like the candidates running for office or may not make it to the polls due to illness or disabilities. Other factors that affect voter turnout is the registration process, this requirement for registration prior to voting decreases voter turnout (Boundless).

During the 1972 to 2008 Presidential elections the United States voter turnout was on average 54.51 percent compared to Texas voter turnout at 47.29 percent, 7.22 percent lower. In off-year Congressional elections United States voter turnout was on average 37.56 percent and Texas voter turnout was 33.86 percent a difference of 3.6 percent. As you can see from the numbers, the gap in Texas voter turnout during Presidential elections was almost twice what it is during off-year Congressional elections. Texas voter turnout has slowly continued to increase since 1972 in both Presidential and off-year Congressional elections, however still lags behind voter turnout in the United