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Unit 12: Politics of Representation and Participation

Many commentators view this finding as an alarming symptom of a deep sickness in America. They Notes
say it reflects a widespread popular feeling that election outcomes don’t really matter, that the whole
Table 12.1: Average Voting Turnout in Elections to Lower House, 1961-1999

Nation Average Turnout

Australia 95
Belgium 92

Italy 90
Sweden 88
New Zealand 87
Germany 86
Canada 75
United Kingdom 75
France 75
Japan 69
India 59
United States 52*
Switzerland 52
Compulsory voting law

* Presidential elections
† † † †
Source: Adapted from Mark N. Franklin, “The Dynamics of Electoral Participation,” in Lawrence LeDuc,
Richard G. Niemi, and Pippa Norris, eds., Comparing Democracies 2 (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,
2002), Table 12.1.

governmental system is rigged against ordinary people, and so there is no good reason why people
should bother with voting.
When voting turnout is calculated in exactly the same way in the United States as it is in other
democracies—as a percentage of registered voters— the American record looks much better. The
point, though technical, is important. In America, as in most of the world’s other democracies, citizens’
names must appear on voting registers before they can legally vote. But the United States differs
from other nations in one important respect: in most other countries, getting on the register requires
no effort by the voter. Public authorities take the initiative and do the work to get all eligible citizens
enrolled, and as a result almost every citizen of voting age is on the register. In the United States, by
contrast, each state regulates voting registration, and in most states would-be voters must make an
effort to get on the register; no public official will do it for them. Moreover, in most democratic
countries when voters move from one part of the country to another, they are automatically struck
off the register in the place they leave and are added to the register in the place they move to, all with
no effort on their part. In contrast, when people move from one U.S. state to another they are not
automatically added to the register in their new state.
In 1993 Congress passed the “Motor Voter” act, which was intended to make registration much
easier and thereby increase voting turnout. The legislation requires the states to allow citizens to
register when applying for a driver’s license, to permit registrations by mail, and to provide registration
forms at public assistance agencies such as those distributing unemployment compensation and welfare
checks. Even so, turnout in the 1996 presidential election dropped to 49 percent, one of the lowest
figures of the twentieth century. It rose to 52 percent in 2000.

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