Page 287 - DPOL202_COMPARATIVE_POLITICS_AND_GOVERNMENT_ENGLISH

Comparative Politics and Government

Notes Most political scientists applaud the new law, and most were puzzled by the sharp decline in 1996.
Some, however, point out that America’s status as a low-turnout country is an artifact of the way
turnout is measured. They point out that turnout can be measured in two ways that give markedly
different results. One is to take a percentage of all registered voters, which, in most democracies, is
nearly identical with the number of eligible persons. The other, which is generally used in the United
States, is to take a percentage of all persons of voting age— including not only unregistered persons
and persons who have moved but have not re-registered, but even noncitizens of voting age.
One study has found that when turnout in the U.S. is compared with that in 24 other democracies
and when the measure used is percent of persons of voting age, the U.S., with an average turnout of
52.6 percent in presidential elections, ranks 23rd, lower than in any other democracy except
Switzerland. However, when the measure is percent of registered voters, the U.S. jumps to an average
turnout of 86.8 percent, which makes it 11th highest.
Another explanation for America’s low voting turnout arises from the fact that American voters are
called on to cast far more votes than the citizens of any other country (only Switzerland comes close).
In the parliamentary democracies, the only national elections are those for the national parliament, in
which voters normally vote for one candidate or for one party. They also vote periodically for a
candidate or a party in the elections for the city or rural district in which they live. In the federal
systems, they also vote for a member of their state or provincial parliament. Hence, in most democracies
other than the United States and Switzerland, the typical voter makes a total of only four or five
voting decisions over a period of four or five years.
In the United States, the combination of separation of powers, federalism, the direct primary, and, at
the state and local level, the initiative and referendum means that citizens may be faced with several
hundred electoral decisions in a period of four years. At the national level, voters are called on to vote
in the presidential primaries of their parties, and in the general election to decide (mostly) between
the Democratic and Republican candidates. They are also expected to vote in primary elections and
general elections every two years for members of the House of Representatives and twice in every six
years for members of the Senate. At the state and local level not only are the leading executive officials
(governors and mayors) and members of the legislatures nominated in primary elections and elected
in general elections, but in most states and localities a considerable number of other offices that are
appointed positions in most other democracies—for example, state secretaries of state, attorneys
general, treasurers, superintendents of education, judges, school superintendents, and members of
local school boards, sanitary commissions, park commissions, and so on—are selected by much the
same primary-plus-general election procedures. In addition, about half the states regularly hold
elections on initiatives and referendums, in which the public votes directly on questions of public
policy.
Thus American citizens are called on to vote far more often than those of any other country except
Switzerland. Surely the opportunity to vote in free, fair, and competitive elections is a sine qua non of
democratic government, and therefore a good thing. Yet a familiar saying is that there can be too
much of a good thing, and many Americans leaving their polling places after casting their ninetieth
(or more) vote of the year are likely to conclude that the sheer number of voting decisions in America
is a case in point.
Participation by Other Means

Voting, of course, is only one of several ways citizens can participate in politics. They can also serve
in office, work in political parties, donate money to candidates, parties, and causes, attend rallies,
take part in street demonstrations, send letters, telegrams, faxes and e-mail messages to their elected
representatives, write letters and op-ed pieces to newspapers, call radio and TV talk shows, try to
persuade families and friends, file lawsuits against public officials, and so on. These other forms of
participation have not been studied as extensively as voting, but Russell Dalton has collected some
interesting comparative data on conventional and unconventional forms of participation in the United
States and some Western European countries.

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