SC - Voter Turnout


	"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election." - Bill Vaughan American columnist and author. 1915 - 1977.

Voter Turnout

Perhaps the single biggest problem we face is the apathy of our citizens when it comes to getting involved directly in the political process - most easily measured by the lack of turnout for our elections.

The United States ranks 139th out of 172 countries on voter turnout (see list) with an average turnout of only 48.3% for national elections. As you can see on the chart below, turnout for local elections is considerably worse.

Recent Municipal Election Turnout (SL County Results Only)

	Ballots Cast	Registered Voters	Turnout
2007 General Election	TBD	TBD	TBD
2007 Primary Election results	Unavail	Unavail.	Unavail.
2005 General Election	2956	16035	18.43%
2005 Primary Election	1000	16011	6.25%
2003 General Election	Unavail	Unavail.	Unavail
2003 Primary Election	Unavail	Unavail.	Unavail
2001 General Election	4216	11478	36.73%
2001 Primary Election	1324	11217	11.80%

The Salt Lake County Clerk's office could not provide information on the 2003 general or primary elections and the 2007 results were only available for "votes cast" instead of "ballots cast". The 2001 General election included a citizen's initiative and a controversial bond initiative, which may account for the higher turnout.

There are a number of reasons why turnout in this country is so low, including the fact that our elections are generally held in the middle of the work week at a time that is least convenient to working men and women. There is another organization, Why Tuesday?, exploring the various factors that impede public involvement and election turnout.