Chaudhary 1

Yash Chaudhary

PS 1010

Dr. James Buccellato

1 April 2015

Voter Turnout in Urban Regions

Abstract:

Low voter turnout is an issue that has been prevalent in the United

States for many decades. It results in an inaccurate representation of an

elections results, as the entire population is accounted for. The national,

state, and local (city) governments have all been affected by low voter

turnout. Rates have been relatively higher in national and state elections, but

local elections have the lowest voter turnouts, and this is especially harmful

for the local government as that is where decisions are directly impacting

citizens. The problem of low voter turnout is attributed to various factors,

from the age of a population to the time when local elections occurs. Policies

are being used in places around the world that result in increased voter

turnout. These programs can be utilized by local governments to improve

their own electoral representation.

Introduction:

Throughout the course of history, the vote is the method utilized by all

democracies when making decisions, electing officials, or implementing

 Chaudhary 2

policies. Although many factors can decide the outcome of a vote, none is as

influential as voter turnout. By definition, voter turnout is the percentage of

eligible who cast a ballot in an election. Basically, the number of people who

can vote, that actually do vote. Voter turnout rates play a role in affecting the

health of a democracy. If citizens do not show up to cast a ballot, candidates

are misrepresented in these elections. Low turnout is often attributed to

political disengagement and individuals believing that voting will do little to

alter public policy, or the outcome of an election. In the United States, the

voter turnout fluctuates in elections of all levels, whether they be local,

statewide, or national. Statewide and national elections influence broader

policies, but it is the local elections in which citizens can feel changes being

made the most. Although voter turnout is a nationwide problem, the

percentage of voters is particularly low in urban areas, despite the fact that

local governments are closest to the people and have the most direct and

obvious impact on their lives. Compared to the already poor 50-60% turnout

during national elections, local officials are elected with rates only half of

that, while in many cases reaching as low as single digits (Hajnal).

Understanding the issue of voter turnout at the local level is absolutely

essential to solve the problem in other levels of government. Urban areas

across the United States can combat the issue of voter turnout by allowing

voting to be more easily accessible and rewarding, informing citizens about

the importance of casting a ballot, and passing laws that make voting

compulsory.
 Chaudhary 3

There are many elements that make an impact on the amount of

people that show up to vote. First, demographic factors play a role in the

amount of people present during an election. Many urban areas in the United

States have a generally younger population than nearby rural areas. Young

people are much less likely to vote than older ones. From 1972 to 2012,

citizens 18-29 years old turned out at local elections at a rate 15 to 20 points

lower than citizens 30 years of age and older (Wood). Metropolitan cities

such as Detroit, Chicago, and Philadelphia have a far younger population

than surrounding rural areas. In these cities, more than one out of every

three people (35.7%) was between 20 and 44 years of age in 2006, while in

rural areas, young adults only made up 27.7 of the population (Wood). Due

to this large amounts of younger citizens, cities tend to have less voters in

elections. To add on, voter turnout in cities also varies by race and ethnicity.

In 2012, turnout rates among eligible white and black voters was 64.1% and

66.2%, respectively, while it was only 48.0% and 47.3% among Latino and

Asian American voters respectively. The political structure of the urban area

corresponds with voter turnout in that area. Cities with administrative

structures will have lower voter turnouts than those with political structures

(Wood). Voter turnout is higher in the cities with political structures because

political and executive power is concentrated in the office of the full-time

mayor. When this executive power is concentrated in the office of the mayor,

the mayor has more influence over policy and administrative matters,

therefore voters will know whom to credit or blame for governmental

 Chaudhary 4

performance. Lastly, one of the most important structural characteristic

influencing voter turnout is the timing of city elections. According to a study

by Fredericton and Johnson in 1998, cities that hold elections concurrently

with national elections have approximately a 29% higher voter turnout than

cities that do not hold concurrent city elections (Senate). Although some

urban areas may hold local elections at the same time as statewide and

national elections, a big portion of larger cities have separate mayoral

elections from state legislator elections. According to a 2013 study of 340

mayoral elections in cities across the United States, voter turnout for those

elections averaged at 25.8% when conducted at a separate time from

national elections (Wood). In summation, various factors in urban areas play

a role in low voter turnouts during local elections. Demographic factors,

political structures, and the timing of elections all are elements that affect

voter turnout in certain cities. Local governments are taking initiatives to

improve this problem.

Intervention/Evaluation:

There are various policies and initiatives that are being considered if

not already in affect to combat low voter turnout in local elections. To begin

with, policies are being implemented to making voting easier for citizens.

The state of Oregon is passing a Motor Voter law which uses DMV records to

automatically register residents to vote. The new policy will add 300,000
 Chaudhary 5

more voters, and could cover the nearly 860,000 people currently

unregistered but eligible to vote. This law goes hand-in-hand with the states

policy of mailing ballots to registered voters to fill out and drop off in the

weeks leading up to election day (Ollstein). The combination of these two

policies allows Oregon to have one of the most easily accessible voting

systems in the country. Although this policy is being applied at a state level,

it can be implemented fairly easily in urban areas in the US, where

populations are usually around the same as Oregon. Such a policy would

make it much easier for individuals to cast their vote, greatly improving the

voter turnout in local elections. In other countries, local governments use

different programs to improve the voter turnout. A city in Sweden called

Falun is using innovative methods to educate citizens about the role they

play in a democracy, in order to increase public desire to vote. The local

government develops and distributes a Democracy Passport to every

citizen. This passport describes all the political powers that Falun citizens

have and all the spheres of government they have the right to weigh in- at

the city, state, country, and European Union level. Also, the Falun

government opened a Democracy Center at the public library, offering free

public space for democratic information, education and dialogue. In addition

to all of these initiatives, they also hired a full-time Democracy Navigator,

whose job was to assist individual citizens and groups to make their voices

heard. The implementation of these programs did not go in vain; it resulted

 Chaudhary 6

in a boost of city voter turnout from 45 percent to 54 percent, one of the

highest in Sweden (Kaufmann). Such local programs aimed at informing

citizens of their role in elections can increase interest in voting in urban

areas in the US. In addition to programs already implemented, there are

many initiatives being considered to improve voter turnout.

There are a handful of policies that can be potentially implemented at

the local level that are currently being assessed. First is the idea of making

voting compulsory in the US. Various countries across the world have

compulsory voting, even making failure to vote punishable by a fine. These

countries boast voter turnouts of 95-99%, compared to the US voter turnout

of 50-60% at best, during national elections. President Barack Obama came

on to say that he would support mandatory voting. Other countries have

mandatory voting [] it would be transformative if everyone voted. People

who tend not to vote are young, theyre lower income, theyre skewed more

easily towards immigrant groups and polls, Obama pointed out. Making

voting mandatory would allow for a more holistic representation in every

level of elections, especially local elections (Dews). It would improve the

abysmal participation currently experienced by local governments. Although

there are no policies currently in play to make voting mandatory, other

countries have had success implementing these programs. Additionally,

incentivizing voter turnout is being considered during elections. Various

surveys and experiments conducted by Joshua Tucker show how incentives

 Chaudhary 7

greatly increased voter turnout. During the 2011 San Fransisco Municipal

Election, he selected a handful of people to receive a financial incentive to

vote in the form of a $25 Visa card that would only be activated if the subject

cast a ballot. This mobilization treat increased voter turnout from 45% to a

whopping 80% (Tucker). These results showed that incentivized participation

that gives someone even a chance of a reward at the local level alone results

in a substantial increase in voter turnout. Although this was only a field

experiment during a local San Fransisco election, its principles can be applied

in urban areas all across the US. To sum up, there are numerous policies

being implemented across the globe to increase voter turnout, all of which

can be implemented in urban areas for local elections in the US.

Conclusion:

Local governments across the nation can combat the problem of low

voter turnout by increasing affinity for voters by making it easier for them to

vote and providing incentives, informing citizens about the importance of

voting, and passing law that makes voting mandatory. Although there are

various demographic, political, and scheduling factors that influence how

many people show up to cast a ballot, there are a handful of policies,

programs and initiatives that have already been implemented or are in line

to be used. These efforts can effectively alleviate the problem of low voter

turnout faced in urban areas to obtain a more accurate representation of

their population in local elections.

 Chaudhary 8

Works Cited

Dews, Fred. "Is Compulsory Voting a Solution to America's Low Voter Turnout and Political

Polarization?" Brookings. Brookings, 4 Dec. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

Hajnal, Zoltan, and Paul Lewis. "MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS AND VOTER TURNOUT IN

LOCAL ELECTIONS." Urban Affairs Review 38.5 (2003): n. pag. Proquest.

Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

Kaufmann, Bruno. "The Swedish Way To Boost Voter Turnout." TIME Magazine 5 Nov. 2014: n.

pag. ProQuest. Web.

Ollstein, Allice. "Oregon Will Start Automatically Registering Voters. Is Vermont Next?"

ThinkProgress 16 Mar. 2015: n. pag. Print.

Senate Rules and Administration Committee Hearing. Lanham: Federal Information & News

Dispatch, Inc, 2014. ProQuest. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.

 Chaudhary 9

Tucker, Joshua. "Incentivizing Participation Would Increase Voter Turnout *and* Political

Information." The Monkey Cage. N.p., 6 Nov. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

Walton, Alice. "It's Not Just L.A. -- Other Major Cities Struggle with Low Voter Turnout." Los

Angeles Times. N.p., 2015. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.

Wood, Curtis. "Voter Turnout in City Elections." Urban Affairs Review 38.2 (2002): n. pag.

JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.