from Hacker News

U.S. trails most developed countries in voter turnout (2018)

by wickedwiesel on 6/4/20, 10:54 AM with 51 comments

• by docdeek on 6/4/20, 11:26 AM

  Interesting that % of registered voters that vote in the US is incredibly high (86%) even if the number of registered voters is low (hence the low % of eligible voters actually voting). 86% is right up there with countries like Belgium and Australia where voting is compulsory and the obligation to vote (or turn up at a polling place…) is enforced.

  Switzerland seems odd on the face of it to me - what explains low turnout for registered voters? Too many elections/votes? Voter fatigue?

• by wickedwiesel on 6/4/20, 11:07 AM

  Given the current discussion on political apathy in the US I think this data fits well into this pattern.

  Looking at the voter turnout for United States (2016) of the of voting-age population you have merely 55.70% voting. (For comparison, the scale goes up to 87.21% in Belgium). Only roughly HALF of the population casts their votes in federal elections. Since a lot of the current policing decisions are made on a state or local level where voter turnout is even worse, this is a democracy in crisis.

  What could be the drivers for this? I think you get a hint if you look at the other column, where you see the % of voter turnout based on registration. In most countries listed here, these numbers are almost identical because you are registered as a voter by default if you are a citizen. OR, if you are in the US, the % climbs to a whopping 86.80%, illustrating what a negative impact this system has.

  Let people vote. Get rid of this ridiculus competition to cut and slice voter districts to party needs (gerry-mandering) and stop suppressing voters by other means if you want a system that actually allows politicians to work for their voters and not for donors / special interest groups that keep you paid.

• by zeveb on 6/4/20, 12:19 PM

  Is this really relevant, though? Republican democracy means that the people are sovereign within the laws they themselves have set up and may change; universal suffrage means that everyone[0] may vote. But isn't the choice not to vote itself just as much of a signal as voting? I know that some countries have compulsory voting, but that has always rubbed me the wrong way. If someone simply wishes to sit out, that seems to me to be his right.

  Given the reasonably-established effect of weather on elections[1], I am uncertain that forced votes are particularly high-information votes.

  0: well, not children or felons

  1: e.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5463178/

• by Synaesthesia on 6/4/20, 11:41 AM

  The US also lacks a broad based workers party like a Labour Party in UK or Australia. The people that don’t vote probably would vote for such a party.

• by fallingfrog on 6/4/20, 12:26 PM

  It’s intentional, of course. Suppressing the vote of young or nonwhite people is a well established practice in America. Oftentimes voting districts are so gerrymandered that everybody knows which way the district will vote anyway so why bother? And voter registration laws make it very time consuming to prove residency for people who have to move often.

• by neallindsay on 6/4/20, 12:13 PM

  U.S. leads most developed countries in voter suppression

• by hanniabu on 6/4/20, 11:50 AM

  I can tell you the reason I don't vote is because of voter suppression and manipulation.