Voter turnout

Although the number crunchers haven’t finalized everything from Tuesday’s election, one statistic glares at us…voter turnout is considerably below previous turnouts.

In most states, the numbers are shaping up to be even lower than in 2004, said Curtis Gans, director of American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate. Every state is showing lower numbers than in 2008, Gans said…With 95 percent of precincts reporting, The Associated Press figures showed more than 117 million people had voted in the White House race, but that number will go up as more votes are counted. In 2008, 131 million people voted, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Of course, Hurricane Sandy plays a role in this, but the hurricane alone cannot account for this large drop off, particularly in light of the new voters added to the rolls in the interim.  The question then becomes, why.  Why did fewer people vote?
 
A conversation I had today with one of my “Sound Off” brothers might explain it…or not.  He said that he longed for the days of Tip O’Neill  (D. Ma.), who, as Speaker of the House, sat down with then President Reagan and the two negotiated a compromise.  You may not have liked the result, but, this was two leaders willing to work together to do what Americans were paying them to do..
 
Or, a longing for the days of Newt Gingrich (R. Ga.) who, as Speaker of the House, sat down with then President Clinton and the two negotiated a compromise.  Again, you may not have liked the result, but this was two leaders willing to work together to do what Americans were paying them to do.
 
I suspect that not only don’t today’s Americans see two leaders willing to work together, they don’t even see one.
 

 

SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

40 Comments

  1. Jeff S on November 8, 2012 at 7:29 pm

    I have been hearing that the Republican turnout was even lower than 2008.? If that is the case than those who sat this one out because they can’t vote for a Mormon or whatever their issue was , can not complain as the health care bill gets implemented, fuel/electricity prices rise as will unemployment.? This is the government they deserve.



  2. buckscorner on November 8, 2012 at 7:57 pm

    I cannot understand why turnout was lower. There seemed to be tremendous enthusiasm among republicans to vote for Romney. Poling places were crowded, more than I have before seen; many felt that the future of America was at stake. Were all the votes counted? I understand some voting machines can be compromised: http://rt.com/usa/news/voting-machine-election-hack-088/. Another possibility is that some conservatives were put off by an “establishment” or “moderate” candidate, and stayed away or voted for a third party candidate like Rand Paul.



    • ricbee on November 9, 2012 at 6:59 pm

      Machines? You mean marking a large piece of paper? The old solid steel machines gave me a good feeling & the curtain was nice too.



  3. chetisyourbet on November 9, 2012 at 4:47 am

    A majority of those who did not vote were preppers and Christians.
    I voted as a Christian I remained obedient to the word of God and was submitting to my governing authority by voting.? Any Christian that didn’t vote you just showed you don’t believe in practicing the word of God.
    Some were just people who did not like the candidates they would be the Ron Paul libertarians followers.
    the rest couldn’t vote do to Sandy or they left the country thinking when Romney won the cities would burn because of civil unrest.? God spared us that scenario.
    simple answer as to why.



  4. chetisyourbet on November 9, 2012 at 4:54 am

    oh yeah and how many military were not able to vote because their ballots were lost or they were taken off voting rolls in many states because they were serving their country overseas to long.



  5. Tim-in-Alabama on November 9, 2012 at 5:48 am

    Lower turnout among Republicans can only be explained by the efforts of racist Democrat to suppress the white vote with threats of riots and assassinations by Obama supporters, illegal campaign donations through Obama’s campaign credit card system and hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of illegally cast votes because of failure to pass common sense voter ID legislation.



  6. Gary J on November 9, 2012 at 6:09 am

    You can hash out this past election for 4 years. The other way is to get going on who we really are.? from voters thru the top candidate. Inclusive of all in between. Face it Romney from the start was not a conservative choice. He’s a middle of the road weenie. Most of you know ,including Jim who the next choice must be. Locally here in Connecticut already too much “free money” and other? things to be anything but a deep blue state.



  7. gillie28 on November 9, 2012 at 7:05 am

    Logged in to comment, then realized I have absolutely nothing to say that would be acceptable and/or?meaningful.? God help the US…morally, politically and socially corrupt.? Well, did have something to say after all.



  8. Plainvillian on November 9, 2012 at 9:17 am

    At the risk of being a contrarian, let me postulate that we have long since passed the point at which the law of diminishing returns applies to government.? Each minor result for ever smaller constituencies cost exponentially greater amounts.? Compound this with the concept that we want our paid congresscritters to “do things” for their pay and the central planners are off and ruining.
    Here are other concepts:? Pay the congresscritters less, perhaps no more than 1.5 times the median income from their state of election.? Demand that they do less or nothing unless all benefit or are protected.? Sunset all laws and regulations.? Term limits would help too.



  9. JBS on November 9, 2012 at 9:20 am

    Sex. Plain and simple.
    For the election there were really only three options open to voters. Vote Democrat, vote Republican or not vote at all.?
    So why did so many people, white, educated males, mostly, not vote? Sex. Prowling males looking for romance didn’t want to lie and say they voted Democrat. Admitting to voting Republican is a sure way to kill ardor with the ladies.
    So, admit to not voting! Dumb is O.K.
    Let’s face it, voting Republican isn’t sexy.
    ?



    • Lynn on November 9, 2012 at 9:54 am

      I so hope your analysis is wrong, but it gave me a laugh! I say Marco Rubio in 2016.
      ?



    • JBS on November 9, 2012 at 5:36 pm

      You’re welcome.
      “How often . . . when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?” Sherlockian Deduction.
      ?
      Are you suggesting a Rubio and, perhaps, Ryan ticket for 2016? To run against Mzzz. Clinton? (Shudder, shudder, cringe, cringe — gak!)



  10. sammy22 on November 9, 2012 at 11:53 am

    Steve pointed out that the electorate has changed (and the new demographics gave Pres. Obama the victory). Longing for the days of Reagan and Newt is not dealing with the country as it is now. Ryan could not even deliver Wisconsin.



  11. Murphy on November 9, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    Perhaps the Mayans were right.



  12. dennis on November 9, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    The only demographics that have changed enough to re elect this man are the fact that too many of our country men have their hands out for free “stuff”. Who is going to vote to stop getting this “stuff”? That is the 47-48% that are Democrat voters. That is why they won, Republicans stayed home.



  13. yeah on November 9, 2012 at 2:08 pm

    voter fraud
    http://www.punditpress.com/2012/11/what-luck-obama-won-dozens-of-cleveland.html
    http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/11/was-massive-voter-fraud-involved/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=was-massive-voter-fraud-involved
    ?
    There is no way Obama was carrying places at 90%+ participation and 99.7% of the vote in electoral college significant places like cleveland – when Mccain got hundreds of votes, are we really to believe that romney would come up with like 23 votes over 9 wards of the entire city?
    We got scammed, plain and simple.



  14. yeah on November 9, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    just like the scam that got malloy in, that got al franken seated, etc, etc.? Iraq probably had a more secure vote than we just did.



  15. joe_m on November 9, 2012 at 3:56 pm

    Romney was a MA liberal and a RINO. Yes, Ryan was a good pick for VP just a Palin was a good pick for McCain. But people do not vote for VP. It was a hold your nose and vote for the lessor of 2 evils.

    People are tired of voting?against someone instead of for someone. I know I am. We needed someone to tell us government was the problem and we are going to start deconstruction beginning with foreign aid and the DOE.

    However, the free loaders voted for someone who would keep the transfer going.???



  16. JollyRoger on November 9, 2012 at 4:51 pm

    I think the fix was in. ?The Dems are a determined bunch and are not going to let an honest election cost them Obama-care or more inbred supreme court injustices. ?They lost only in not getting another supermajority!



    • JBS on November 9, 2012 at 5:43 pm

      It has often been said that Democrats couldn’t win in an honest election.
      Could the companies that make the voting machines rig them to cast a vote for their candidate (Obama this time) every time? Are they contributors to the DNC or directly to Obama?
      Hmmmmmmmm . . . Manchurian candidate scenario, anyone?



  17. stinkfoot on November 10, 2012 at 8:30 am

    Demographics of entitlement and the cultural devaluation of a day’s hard work have supplanted so-called traditional values which would have mandated a change.? By playing the class warfare game and pandering to those who have their hands out for “free” gub’mint money the regime has successfully taken advantage of our collective refusal to employ critical thinking to realize that we’re getting politically “sexed” without constitutional protection.



  18. sammy22 on November 10, 2012 at 11:12 am

    As long as Repubs fail to recognize (and act on it) that the vast majority of the Black vote , as well as more than 70% of the Latino vote went to Pres. Obama, they will not win. The white, male segment of the population? is not enough to elect a president. Check the data.



    • yeah on November 10, 2012 at 11:48 am

      if it was recognized that would somehow change the outcome of elections?
      you’re getting to be the poster child for inanity, sammy.? at least if you said intelligent things and believed as you did we wouldnt consider you a troll.



    • Dimsdale on November 16, 2012 at 10:02 am

      What you really need is for blacks to recognize that their wholesale voting as a lockstep block for Democrats has done nothing, I repeat, nothing, for them.? THEY are the losers as long as the Dems need them to be needy tools for their power grabs.? The current president and black unemployment rating a case in point.



  19. sammy22 on November 10, 2012 at 2:46 pm

    Not my “analysis”, yeah. Romney/Ryan did nothing to get the Latino vote (remember Romney and the “self-deportation” remark?), Romney made the 47% statement and did not do much to get the women’s vote. The R/R ticket lost all the swing states and even Florida! What’s your “analysis”?



    • JBS on November 11, 2012 at 8:32 am

      Once again, analysis is fine. It is just a restatement of the facts. The frustration here is that the facts are known. It is now, what are we, conservatives, libertarians — big “L”, too, patriots, observers,? and commentators going to do with those facts.?
      History: McCain got his butt handed to him. That campaign did many things very wrong. Romney: moderate-liberal Republican from Massachusetts, gets his butt handed to him by a barely-in-the-closet Socialist!!!!! GAK! We know the facts, the percentages, the sad litany. What can the ‘Publicans do to change their image; what can conservatives do that courts vast numbers of voters; what message can reach the 47+%, now known as the takers; how can those on the Right of political questions get their message out so it appeals to a majority of voters?
      We know that the arguments of the left are hollow; Socialism does NOT work; our country is crippled and will cease to be if we stay on this present course.
      Blacks and Latinos are not monolithic voting blocks, they are a groups of individuals who share a commonality. So, WHY did they vote so overwhelmingly for…



    • JBS on November 11, 2012 at 8:36 am

      . . . Obama??WHAT can be done in the next election to reach them? HOW can Republicans reach women voters? WHY is the media so disgustingly pro-Obama? The reasons behind the numbers is what is crucial. Anyone can spout facts and numbers.
      We have a problem here. We can collectively work to solve it or we can individually disappear. Alone, we are well on the way to marginalization.



    • stinkfoot on November 11, 2012 at 11:35 am

      The only thing that’ll reach them will be the reality that the Gimme-crats create with their class warfare demagoguery when the proverbial chickens come home to roost in the form of the REAL tax increases- directed at the working class.? people willfully allowed themselves to be fooled into presuming that only the rich will be burdened with paying extra when nothing could be further from the truth.? Next election there will be far more hands out in need of assistance- and the associated implicit short sighted fear motivated liberal vote
      ?



    • Dimsdale on November 16, 2012 at 10:03 am

      Shouldn’t be long before the austerity riots begin….



    • Lynn on November 11, 2012 at 8:57 am

      Sammy, I agree with your analysis. Also, white males stayed home in big numbers. ?It is painful to ?see that a truly great man was demonized and his words were twisted by the media.
      But we can’t do anything about that. We have to accept the media the way it is. I think we have a great group of talented GOP candidates in “the wings”. Personally, I think we need Marco Rubio, for 2016, but I will enthusiastically back any candidate who can reach the largest share of the electorate. ?if we run a candidate who will be accepted by a larger share of the electorate, they will not listen or believe the lying left media.



    • JBS on November 11, 2012 at 11:12 am

      George Will’s column, “Starting All Over, Again” in Sunday’s paper is excellent. He has a real way with words. http://www.unionleader.com/article/20121111/OPINION02/121119929&source=RSS
      Actually, I think he has written something very much like this before.



  20. gillie28 on November 11, 2012 at 4:06 am

    Here’s a solution to all of the US’s problems: divide the country up into two.? One will be called Moralese and the other Doasyouplease.? They get Washington, DC 😀



  21. sammy22 on November 12, 2012 at 10:20 am

    Hey, JBS, perhaps the Repubs should change/modify the message. Pointing fingers at the messengers is only part of the answer. If the message keeps on being only from the Conservative Right you’re doomed (that’s my take).



    • Dimsdale on November 16, 2012 at 10:04 am

      If the answers keep coming from the Liberal Left, then the country is doomed.? That is my take.



  22. yeah on November 12, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    http://www.obamavoterfraud.com
    ?
    Sammy how do you account for? some places having 140% voter participation?? Or 90-100% turnout when all the surrounding areas are around 60% at best?
    ?
    You dont.? You start ringing the gong and making a stink about having had a fraud perpetrated on the people.



  23. Linda Mae on November 12, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    Barb- Any comment?

    ?

    ?
    On Tuesday only one precinct had less than 113% turnout. ?The Unofficial vote count is 175,554 registered voters 247,713 vote cards cast (141.10% ). The National SEAL Museum, a St. Lucie county polling place, had 158.85% voter turn out, the highest in the county.?
    The Supervisor of Elections, Gertrude Walker, had this to say concerning the 141% voter turnout: ?They may have had something like that in Palm Beach County, but we?ve never seen that here.?
    So maybe Allen West wasn?t crazy to ask for a lock-down on the ballot boxes and machines in this county. According to the report given the day after elections, Allen B. West garnered…



    • Linda Mae on November 12, 2012 at 5:50 pm

      from Townhall…
      ?



    • Dimsdale on November 16, 2012 at 10:05 am

      It is what the Democrats call “anecdotal”, and what the press calls “not newsworthy”.



  24. JBS on November 13, 2012 at 10:49 am

    As I have said before, Obama and the Democrats will say and do anything to stay in power.
    If it takes voting fraudulently, stuffing the ballot-box with illegal votes (children, dead people, illegal aliens, etc.), buying votes, pandering to blacks and latinos, scaring women, flat-out lying about issues, whatever it takes, that’s what the Democrats will do.?
    Happily and jeerfully, they will laugh in your face, give you the finger and a big raspberry, haughtly demand, “Whatta ya gonna do ’bout it?” and win the election. They do it as a matter of course! They would do it in an uncontested election for the practice.
    The Democrat political machine is incapable of running an honest campaign. Cheating is a way of life; voter fraud ensures victory and retention of power. They are fueled by fraud.
    The Republicans, now considered by many as an endangered species, had better, as S. L. Jackson said, “wake the (censored) up!” Nice guys are not only going to finish last, they are going to be totally out of government.



    • Dimsdale on November 16, 2012 at 10:06 am

      Positive ID and blue thumbs.? Just like they do in the rest of the world.



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