A generic question about the US election

[karohemd]

The turnout was just under 60%.
Is this 60% of the adult population or 60% of people registered to vote?
I'm asking because this is the same in Germany. We don't have any of this get registered to vote business, if you're a citizen you're automatically registered to vote as soon as you turn 18.

Comments

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

And in Australia they fine people who don't vote.

[mattp.livejournal.com]

Do they have a "none of the above" or "abstain" option? IMO complusory voting only makes sense if either or both of these options are available.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I beleive so. You can always spoil your ballots even if there aren't. they fine you if you don't make the effort to take part in the process, not for what your decisions are.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

passes the question to twicedead

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

You can donkey vote or pass in a blank sheet, but "None of the above" and "abstain" are not options.

You have to show up. And while you're there, you might as well vote.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

You know, I rather like the concept of being forced to vote, fascist though it sounds...

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Yep, me too.
However, fascist would be forcing you who to vote for and as Ben says, you can hand in an empty ballot.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing it's of those registered to vote, because that's a nice easy number of people to get hold of, whereas it's difficult to be certain of the number of adults in a huge country.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that as well.
Are there any estimates as to how many adult Americans are registered to vote?
Germany doesn't get turnouts of much more than 60% in national elections, either but at least that will be 60% of the adult population.

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

Given that the votes were somewhere in the region of 59+ million for the Chimp and about 56+ million for Mr Ketchup, that gives you about 115 odd million voters (the majority of them very odd) In a country with a population of about 288+ million, that would suggest that there was a turnout of 60% of the adult population

[susanofstohelit.livejournal.com]

I know in MN turnout was 80%+ of registered voters. Did they have any numbers with the percentage? We had a census four years ago, so the number of adults in the US is relatively known.

but, there are also adults who've lost voting rights, which further skews the number.

[poetman.livejournal.com]

The idea behind registering to vote is to cut down on fraud, as well as to be able to direct people to the correct polling stations.

These days its very easy to register - I did it while renewing my drivers license last month. They asked me if I wanted to register to vote while I was getting my license, and that was it. I have heard you can do it online now, though you have to print out a form and mail it in.

I'm of two minds about Australia’s 'forced vote' system. It's good that everyone votes, but do we really want people who are so pathetic that they can't motivate to vote helping to choose our leaders? (On the other had, they can hardly do worse than America did in this last election, so I suppose that answers that question)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods*
Obviously in countries like the US or the UK voters need to register because they aren't registered as citizens (unlike in Germany where you're obliged to register your residency).

[kyrthira.livejournal.com]

Of those registered. It's sad, really.