Didn’t Vote? What was your reason? Was it in the 10?

I have recently doing some research on voter registration and voting patterns. (Yeah! Surprising that!) But, I ran across something very interesting at the U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population survey, November 2008. In total, 15,167,000 people reported that they did not vote.

What I found was a listing of the most common reason people gave for NOT voting:

% Not Voting	Reason Provided for Not Voting
17.50%	Too busy, conflicting schedule.
14.90%	Illness or disability.
13.40%	Not interested.
12.90%	Did not like candidates or campaign issues.
11.30%	Other reason.
8.80%	Out of town.
7.00%	Don’t know or refused (to respond to question)
6.00%	Registration problems.
2.70%	Inconvenient polling place.
2.60%	Transportation problems.
2.60%	Forgot to vote.
0.20%	Bad weather conditions.

Looking a bit farther, I found the breakdown for these according to age and discovered the following:

The largest age group not voting due to:

Too busy, conflicting schedule: 25 to 44 yrs. group (24.3%) and close behind. the 18 to 24 yrs. group (21.0%)
Illness or disability: 65 yrs. and older group (45.3%)
Not interested: 45 to 65 yrs. group (15.2%) and another close second, 25 to 44 yrs. group (14.2%)
Did not like candidates or campaign issues: 45 to 64 yrs. group (16.5%).
Other reason: (nearly a 3 way tie) 45 to 64 yrs. group (12.5%), 25 to 44 yrs. group (11.7%), and 18 to 24 yrs. group (11.6%)
Out of town: 18 to 24 yrs. group (14.2%)
Don’t know or refused: 18 to 24 yrs. group (11.2%)
Registration problems: 18 to 24 yrs. group (9.0%)
Inconvenient polling place: 25 to 44 yrs. group (3.0%)
Transportation problems: 65 and older yrs. group (4.5%)
Forgot to vote: 18 to 24 yrs. group (4.5%)
Bad weather conditions: 65 yrs. and older group (0.8%)

There is a lot of other interesting information at this site that I will be writing about in the future. Of course, you can always look it up for yourself.

How to deal with some of these reasons to insure that more people vote? Well, that’s the million dollar question.

The too busy, conflicting schedule issue could be worked on by legislation allowing for extended voting periods (not just in hours but in days). Illness or disability, unless of a sudden onset, could possibly be reduced by simply making people more aware of the right to absentee ballots. Not interested? Perhaps that is indicative of a failure of the system to educate people of exactly how important their right to vote is and how it can directly affect their daily lives. Out of town, again points to the lack of awareness concerning absentee ballots. Registration problems need to be addressed through the registration process. The rest are pretty much smaller issues when you look at the numbers but also need some solutions.

Getting people registered to vote is but one part of the battle. After that, it falls upon the voters and the process to make sure that voters are informed through active education and it is a perfect opportunity for neighbors, friends, and family to step up and take some proactive steps to encourage others to vote.

For a glimpse at a future blog:

Voting Patterns as They Relate to Income:

Family Income Level	Population Count of Group (in thousands)	Percent Registered	Percent Registered that Reported They Voted
All levels	168,032	66.00%	59.70%
Less than $10,000	5,239	52.10%	41.30%
$10,000 to $14,999	5,461	50.70%	41.20%
$15,000 to $19,999	5,084	52.60%	44.30%
$20,000 to $29,999	13,749	57.20%	48.00%
$30,000 to $39,999	16,150	62.20%	54.40%
$40,000 to $49,999	12,547	65.40%	58.20%
$50,000 to $74,999	29,959	72.70%	65.90%
$75,000 to $99,999	19,075	77.80%	72.60%
$100,000 to 149,999	18,344	82.20%	74.90%
$150,000 and over	13,151	82.30%	78.10%
Income not reported	29,272	49.50%	45.40%