Yes, voter turnout in recent years (okay, decades) has pretty much sucked. Given the rise of big money contributions and the decline of candidates who exhibit the emotions and empathy of regular-type human beings, this is hardly surprising. Well, Congressional Representative Tulsi Gabbard, D–Hawaii, has noticed, and isn’t pleased.
“Voter participation in Hawaiʻi has been declining since 1959, and in the last few elections, our voter participation rates have been among the lowest in the country, with just half of registered voters actually turning out to vote,” said Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard in a Sept. 22 news release. “Our nation is founded on the principles of an active, engaged democracy, and we are at our best when the diverse voices of our nation are heard through our citizens exercising their right to vote. As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: ‘Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.’”
Yeah, voter turnout rates are bad, and there’s no question that the trend is a downhill slope. But when you look at the actual voter turnout data over the last few dozen years, it’s a bum rap to say Hawaii is the worst in the nation. In fact, Hawaii has consistently outvoted the nation. Here’s a simple table showing voter turnout rates in presidential election years (when you typically see the highest turnout) going back to 1992:
YEAR US TURNOUT HAWAII TURNOUT
1992 61% 75%
1996 53% 60%
2000 55% 58%
2004 61% 67%
2008 63% 68%
2012 59% 62%
Gabbard is co-sponsoring House Resolution 12–the Voter Empowerment Act. According to Gabbard’s news release, it “would require every state to make online voter registration available, authorize automated and same-day registration, and make elections more accessible to the disabled and other underserved groups.”
[CHART SOURCES: The Center for Voting and Democracy, Hawaii State Office of Elections]
Photo of Rep. Gabbard: Wikimedia Commons
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