Low Voter Turnout In America

The most common means of measuring the participation of the citizen in any democratic process is by the use of voter turnout. Voter turnout takes into consideration the number of people who vote and what kind of people vote. This number can be measured in a number of ways including the registered voters’ percentage who actually voted, the eligible voters’ percentage who took part in the voting process, or the citizens’ percentage who have reached the voting age and voted. Regardless of the means of eligibility used, the United States has been identified as having among the lowest voter turnouts globally while Belgium and Australia are having the highest (Wolfinger 142).
The high voter turnout witnessed in Australia is as a result of the laws that have been strictly enforced including fines on no-shows during polls. The law in Belgian has a disenfranchising voter’s provision who fail more than one to vote. While there are …show more content…
Convenience affects voter turnout. In America, it is only in one state that voters are not required to go through the different registration process before they are allowed to vote, and most of the states do not give room for Election Day registration. This long registration process in more complicated compared to the process witnessed in most other nations and this discourages some citizens to vote.
Electronic voting has been observed to increase the turnout of younger voters. Across most countries, younger citizens participate less in elections compared to the older voters. The United States being among the youngest nations, it is evident that electronic voting has a significant effect on the younger