Voter Turnout Rates in United States

Introduction
Voter turnout in the United States changes from state to state. An excellent example to show how this variation occurs is the 2012 presidential election, where there were 45% voter turnout in Hawaiians and 76% Minnesotans. Many different factors determine the number of people who cast ballots (Larocca & Klemanski, 2011). According to Brenna Center (2020), lawmakers in 29 states have proposed bills that would encourage more voting. The bills aim to streamline the voter registration process, facilitate absentee voting, allow people with past convictions to vote, and promote more early in-person voting. Something different is happening in 15 fifteen states with bills that make the voting process more complex being suggested. Some of the restrictions include reduced support to voters, limitations on voter ID, harsh punishment for electoral related crimes, and complicated processes for absentee voting. Legislators from the 15 states argue that their purpose is to secure elections to avoid a repeat of election credibility concerns raised in the 2016 presidential elections. Different factors determine voter turnout, but in this paper, the focus will be on the voter registration process and voter identification procedures. The document explains how voter participation can be increased through reduced voter registration requirements, more voting techniques, and perfecting voter identification.
Background
In the 2016 Americans presidential election, about 92 million eligible voters did not turn out. The midterm election in 2014 was the worst, with over 143 million American voters not showing up. The 2014 turnout was the lowest in 72years (Root & Kennedy, 2018). One pillar of a democracy is a fair representation in government, and voting is the only way to place a leader of choice in the different government positions. In line with the Pew Research Center survey of 2018, 74% of the participants rated voting as an essential activity that every loyal citizen should participate in. Voting, obeying the law, and paying taxes are of the same weight (Pew Research Center, 2018). Many Americans seem to understand the importance of voting and their role in making political decisions but why they don't turn out remains the question. The unnecessary procedure that complicates the voting process could be the cause of low electoral participation. Feeling isolated by the government is also a possible reason for not voting.
The United States can streamline the voting system by integrating pro-voter policies to encourage a higher voter turnout. All unnecessary barriers, such as bumpy registration and voting processes, should be abolished to achieve this positive change. More focus should be on ensuring secure counting of votes to guarantee each casted vote count. Automating voter registration (AVR) could increase the number of registered voters in 50 states by over 50 million in one year. Implementation of automatic voting systems should also include the District of Columbia. (Root & Kennedy, 2018). Restoring a right to vote to offenders and ex-offenders can also raise the number of eligible voters by 6 million. Campaigns to create awareness of the importance of voting should also be encouraged.
Registration Requirements
The minimum qualification for one to be entitled to vote in the United States is being a citizen, residing in the US, and aged eighteen years and above. Those are the basic requirements, but states include other regulations that reduce the voting-eligible population (VEP). An example of the added condition includes being mentally competent and having no active criminal case (Shino & Smith, 2018). Restriction for people with a criminal record may vary from state to state, with some states enforcing unusual requirements. In states such as Kentucky and Florida, ex-felons and felons lose their right to vote unless pardoned by the governor. In Nevada and Mississippi, former prisoners can claim back their voting rights. Having clean criminal records is not a requirement to be a Vermont voter except if the crime is related to elections. In Maine, a prisoner can exercise their right as long as they are serving in Maine prisons.
Some States include other requirements that are not related to the crime during the voter registration process. Wisconsin caution voters not to engage in any form of wanger on election outcomes and Vermont voters are required to recite the "Voter's Oath" before registering as an eligible voter. The "Voter's Oath" is a declaration that one would vote with conscience and "without fear or favor of any person" (Ruth, Matusitz & Simi, 2017).
To grant all Americans a fair voting opportunity, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The bill is also known as the "Motor Voter Act" and "NVRA." The bill was a significant milestone to have more Americans participate in ballot casting. The law was meant to make both registration and voting process friendly for all Americans. Increasing the methods available for voter registration and voting was supposed to attract more people to the ballot. To even make the process easier and obvious, section 5 of the act allowed individual to register as a voter while applying for a driver's license. Application done at this point is forwarded to the relevant election officials for processing. (Ruth et al., 2017; Shino & Smith, 2018).
Voter registration effects on voter turnout
A Straightforward voter registration system would encourage more people to register as voters. A strict registration system will discourage more people, and the result will be a few registered voters. For one to vote in the United States, one primary requirement is being a registered voter. This means a lower number of registered voters will translate to lower voter turnout. Even if all registered voters show up on the election day, the bigger population of citizens will be left out, which is not good for a country that values democracy. Having an efficient voter registration method where many people are registered as voters will increase the number of people ready to vote on election day.
Logically, having too many legal restrictions acts as a barrier to voting, and it is a major factor that contributes to low voter turnout. Studies show that a 9% drop in voter turnout recorded in 1972 resulted from strict registration laws. During this time, laws put in place discriminated against some people, with others claiming that the early deadlines were the reason behind their failure to register as voters. (Rosenstone & Wolfinger, 1978). Voter registration requirements caused a considerable drop in voter turnout during the 1972 presidential elections.
Voting Methods Available
Individuals are allowed to cast ballots in different ways in the United States. In the past, voting was only done in person, and individuals had to visit specific polling stations to vote on Election day. During this time, only soldiers who worked away from home were allowed to use the absentee voting system. With time, the absentee voting system was rolled out to civilians, and mails were used to forward and return ballots (Inbody, 2016).
However, for one to use absentee voting, the state required the voter to give a reason, such as being sick or having traveled. With time, different states started embracing new voting methods, including early in-person voting and transmitting votes through the mail. At this time and an excuse was not required to exercise the voting right using the absentee voting method
Some states such as Colorado, Oregon, and Washington use the mail voting approach as the primary method. Ballots are forwarded to all registered voters, and they are expected to return the ballots in person or by mail. These three states encourage voters to return the ballot via mail. Still, for some reason, many people prefer the in-person method, as was evident in the 2016 elections (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). Initially, the term "Vote-by-mail" defined what was happening in the three states. Still, people returning ballots in person made it "Ballot-Delivery-by-Mail" because only delivery was fully done via mail.
Historically, a voter was only allowed to cast votes at their electoral precinct. To streamline the voting process, a need to have vote centers arose, and now many states have voting centers to consolidate the voting process. Any voter can cast a vote in a voting center as long as they are registered in the same jurisdictional hub. (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). Three states, Iowa, Wyoming, and South Dakota, allow citizens to use jurisdiction hubs as voting centers only on voting day.
How voting systems affect voter turnout
Theoretically, an efficient voting system should support maximum voter turnout. Having different voting methods allows voters who will be absent during voting day to exercise their voting right. This means the efficiency of a voting system in a state determines the voter turnout. A good voting system should adopt as many voting methods as possible to ease casting a vote.
Evidence shows that having additional voter registration and voting methods increase voter turnout. Allowing ballot casting before the voting day increases the voter turnout to a figure between 2 and 4 percent (Gronke et al., 2008). Communities of color prefer voting early, and therefore eliminating this voting method affects the voter turnout in a significant way. The author states that if early voting were adopted in the 2016 election, extra 789,500 voters would have participated in this crucial exercise (Root & Kennedy, 2018). Absentee voting has also increased the voter turnout by around 3 percent, and therefore excuses to not voting are reducing with time. Introducing vote centers and vote -at-home policies in Colorado increased youth turnout by 9% and overall participation by between 2% and 5% (Menger, Stein & Vonnahme, 2015).
Classifying Voter identification requirements
The voter identification procedure is different in all 50 States, with each state highlighting the documents that a voter should produce to register as a voter successfully. Common in all states is that individuals participating in in-person voting must provide a name-checked against voters register. Some states require the voters to produce an ID as proof of name, but this is not required in some states. Documentation from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) shows that 17 states allow voters to cast their votes in person without presenting the ID (NCSL, 2016). In many cases, these states only require a name and sometimes birth dates or addresses. An example of such states is Wyoming and Massachusetts. In States like Nebraska and New York, registered voters only require a signature to cast their votes.
States that require voters to produce some document also do it differently. Some require a show of Photo ID while others are not strict on Photo. Other documents that can be used in place of photo ID include unexpired driver's licenses and unexpired US passports. Sometimes expired papers are accepted. Photo IDs serve different purposes in different states, but many states support student IDs, military IDs, government employee IDs, and firearms licenses (Root & Kennedy, 2018). In some states, utility bills or bank statements are all registered voters need to vote in person.
How states handle showing up at the polling station without required documents can also be used as a classification criterion. NCSL group states as either strict or non-strict based on these requirements (NCSL, 2016). In non-strict States, filling out an affidavit of identity and signing it is enough. Other states allow election officials to determine whether are a registered voter is entitled to vote or not. In the two examples given, the process is completed at the election center, and voters should not take further actions to count their votes. In a strict identification process, the casting of ballots is followed by other procedures, including returning to the election board, county election office, or polling place and providing the necessary identification documentation. This happens within few days after the election or on Election Day, and failure to do so will outcome in your ballot not being counted.
Effects of voter identification laws on voter turnout
Voter identification law will only affect those registered voters who are willing to vote, but for some reason, they do not have the required identification documents. Some of the people who are likely to get affected by this electoral law include people whose ID has expired, people not willing to interact with the government, and first-time voters. The population eligible to vote but with no relevant identification documents is not very clear. This is because of variation in the documents needed in different states. Accurate data should consider both voting-age and demographic characteristics of a state to write a considerate conclusion. The available study that engaged six states shows that 15% of people entitled to vote lack the required identification document, with minority communities leading with 20 percent. States such as New Mexico, Washington, California, and Wisconsin were not included in the study, yet they require a government-issued photo ID to vote. That is why this study cannot be used to write significant conclusions
Identification procedures termed as strictest require voters to provide an identification card, and then the process of matching the signatures accompanies. The sign must match what is recorded in the voters' register. In some cases, picture identification is needed. Many identification process requirements can push away potential voters, but research shows that identification law has an insignificant effect on voting behavior. Major issues that affect the voter's behaviors include socioeconomic factors, the competitiveness of campaigns, institutional structures, state ballot, and political affiliations (Mycoff, Wagner & Wilson, 2009). This does not mean that streamlining the voter identification process is not necessary. The study shows that it can affect voter turnout but in low percentages when compared to other factors. This effect also differs from state to state, with some states recording more effects than others.
Conclusion
One of the characteristics of democracy is ensuring a bigger percentage of its population exercises its voting right. The United States is termed as one of the countries where democracy has grown for years. Therefore, it's the responsibility of the government to facilitate smooth voter registration and voting process. The voting process is done differently in different states, but Congress has a common law that sets the minimum standard. The US states are either affiliated with the democratic or republic party and depending on states leaning; the electoral law is implemented differently. This paper's argument was based on the impact of voter registration, voter identification, and voting system on voter turnout. Logically speaking, the voting system is the primary determinant of voter turnout. Other factors such as voter identification and voter registration could affect but no clear barriers to stop anyone from registering as a voter. Some states indeed have strict processes, but it's for everyone. Considering both empirical and theoretical arguments, we can conclude that it is important to have an electoral system with minimal requirements to encourage more people to vote. However, the current system should not bar so many people from turning out.
References
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