Do Americans Vote Too Much?

The United States does not have low voter turnout; Americans actually are asked to vote too much, and this hurts our democracy.

Contrary to what nearly every observer of—and participant in—American elections says, the United States does not really have low voter turnout. It does, however, have relatively low voter registration and low institutional trust at the moment. We may be able to fix that by asking Americans—interestingly enough—to vote less, not more. Americans are asked to vote far more than those in other developed democracies: sometimes more than twice per year and often multiple years in a row. And this may be exhausting the American voter. Maybe Americans do not register to vote because, as voters, we are expected to do too much.

The common story goes something like this: For over a century, American voter turnout has been consistently low, inching over 60% of eligible voters not even a handful of times. For the past 60 years, the average turnout for presidential elections is approximately 55%, to the point that it is a virtual certainty that—for whoever wins the presidency—up to 75% of eligible voters did not vote for that person. This has inspired countless observers and politicians to suggest that the United States needs to do more to encourage voter participation. These numbers, though, obscure the fact that the United States does not have low voter turnout—actually, quite the reverse (see attached).

The number of registered voters who do vote is—in reality—among the highest in the world. A consistent 80-90% of registered voters can be relied upon to cast a ballot. This is more than in just about every nation in Europe, as well as more than in Canada, Japan, South Korea, and most of the developed world.

The overwhelming majority of Americans who register to vote, do.

But not always.

Sometimes people go to the ballot box and still do not vote. Specifically, they do not vote for many local offices. It is common knowledge among pollsters, political scientists, and campaign managers that local voter turnout is lower than national turnout.