According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s web site (last updated 11/21/16), for the November 8 General Electon:
Registered Voters: 3,588,466
Ballots Cast: 2,661,497
Voter Turnout: 74.14%
How does this compare to recent elections?
An accurate analysis of voter participation must begin with the Voting Age Population of the State, 4,710, 448 less the number of registered voters, 3,588,466. There are an estimated 1,121,982 eligible voters who are not registered to vote in Arizona, and thus did not participate in the election.
According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s web site, this means there are more Arizona citizens not registered to vote than there are registered Democratic voters.
Take those 1,121,982 eligible voters who are not registered to vote and add them to the 926, 969 eligible voters who did not vote, and there are 2,o48,951 Arizona citizens who did not participate in this election.
This number is only slightly less than the total number of ballots cast in Arizona in 2016.
When I say that “democracies die from indifference and neglect,” this is to what I am referring. This is a serious problem that needs to be remedied.
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When you look at voter turnout in this state keep in mind that most places calculate turnout as a percentage of ELIGIBLE voters NOT registered voters as the Sec. of State’s office does. Based on that and compared to other states Arizona’s turnout was a whopping (sarcasm sign) 56.5%, election.org has Arizona at 56.2% (probably hasn’t been updated since last week). This compares to Colorado with 71.9%, Oregon with 66.9%, and Minnesota with 74.7% of Voter Eligible Population.
In addition even with the bogus way the Sec. of State calculates turnout it was lower than the 2012 and 2008 elections. So when the SOS touts our voter turnout data remember they are fudging with the numbers to make it seem higher than it is. How much of the deficit is due to apathy vs voter suppression is unknown. Thanks, BlueMeanie, for starting this important conversation.
Minus 2.6 million and counting.