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Who here is eligible to vote but not registered to vote?
The USA in particular has one of the lowest voter turnouts and the lowest registration levels of most developed countries.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/21/u-s-voter-turnout-trails-most-developed-countries/
In 2016 only 61% of eligible citizens voted and only 70% were registered.
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/voting-and-registration/p20-580.html
And that was a good year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout#Trends_of_decreasing_turnout_since_the_1980s
Heh, this question is already quite US specific. Here in the Netherlands you have to register where you live (in which city etc, not doing so can get you in big trouble with the gov't and you can't get contracts, financial aid, whatever), and they send a "voting pass" card thing to the address you're registered in when elections come up. You're definitely not registered with a political party or anything; you could be a member but that's just for money reasons or because you want their newsletter or something
Yes, the question is very US centric.
The difference between US and other countries is quite astounding.
My mother works occasionally for the New Zealand government to register as many people as possible. As a result, registrations and voting is very high, almost on par with the Netherlands
In America, it seems the government is more interested in purging inactive registrations and making it as difficult to register as possible.
Maybe tag it with "united states" or "USA"? Seeing as people can filter by tags, it would helpful for people who don't want to see posts about American politics to be able to filter them out.
It also lets people know this is a question for Americans when it pops up on their front page.
Hear, hear. I was wondering if you’d make an appearance in this thread. 😃
Here in OK, it depends what the election is for. If you want a Democrat, then your vote doesn't count in presidential elections because OK ALWAYS votes Republican. And since only the majority vote counts, a vote for a Democrat is wasted.
Our Governor primary is the 26. Early voting Started today. I am going to vote early tomorrow. But the reality is, whoever wins the Republican primary will be our next governor simply because they are a Republican. So I can see why some people don't vote. On the local level it matters more, but larger elections, not so much.
Even if you feel your vote doesn't count, I think you still should, if not to show there is some opposition. If there is no dissenting voice, democrats (or, if you're in a solid liberal area, republicans) will eventually give up, and having one party on the ballot isn't a real democracy. I live in NC, and this year is the first time in decades that every single state senate district has both a democrat and a republican running, and almost 1/3 have a 3rd party candidate. In the past, many districts only had a republican candidate, and running for office was more of a formality than an actual race.
It can seem like you are throwing away your vote, but what do you have to lose, besides an hour if the polling place is extremely crowded, or the cost of postage for a mail-in ballot?
I'll just take the voting on local stuff.
I expected swing states to have higher participation rates, and they do, but not by much.
Only 65% of eligible citizens voted and only 72% were registered.
You're right, you would expect swings states to have more. I never really thought about that since all I really know is my situation.
If your vote "doesn't count", please at least register to vote and vote for a third party to show disgust with the two-party monopoly. (And if enough people do this, they will actually start winning.)
I am registered, and my comment I talked about how I'm going to vote today.
Im eligable, 23 in Canada but choose not to. I'm not a fan of how the system is percieved, Every Canadian up here hates on Trudeau and all of "his" decisions. Yes he is the leader but its not just him deciding everything, theres a whole cabinet of people.
Then why not register and vote against him?
Because I dont mind him, and its not like Harper(our previous) was better.
I'm currently not, but I'm trying to get registered. My dad works in the navy, and the military has a special clause where you can decide to remain a resident of the state you were in when you joined, so you don't have to change your paperwork every few years (and... uh... you have a legal way to dodge state income taxes...). I've been trying to get the clerk of my town to realize that, yes, I can actually vote in New Hampshire, but she's been dragging her feet on the process :/ and it's complicated by the fact this is my first time registering (I'm 19 and missed the age cutoff for 2016) so yeah... luckily our primaries aren't until September, so I still have several more months to get this sorted out.
I am technically registered, but only through neglect of county officials. Florida's constitution requires that to register to vote, one must take an oath (or affirm) they will defend the US Constitution, which as a Catholic I consider to be indefensible since in its current interpretation it rejects the State's obligation to recognise God and His Church as the exclusive true religion. I personally crossed it out on the registration form, and sent it in like that. Apparently nobody bothered to check. Since such a requirement is an unjust law in the first place, I have a clear conscience.
Off-topic: OP, you need to separate tags with a comma, not just a space.
Why must you register to vote in the US?
Here in Denmark you have a right to vote if you are are Danish citizen. Pretty simple.
Basically it's about putting up barriers so less people will be able to vote. Mostly it's just one of the many ways that the people in power limit the influence (even if it would only be minor) of "undesirables".
Im registered but not in the state I just moved to.
Should be sorting that out tomorrow when I go for drivers license and car registration.