by G. Scott Thomas, The Business Journals (excerpt)
…Fifty-eight percent of all U.S. adults voted in the last presidential election, according to a Census Bureau analysis. That pool included everybody from the age of 18 upward, whether they were citizens or not.
The turnout rate for 2008 ballooned to 63.6 percent when non-citizens were excluded from the count. And it soared to 89.6 percent when the pool was limited to citizens who had registered to vote.
Participation levels were highest in the Midwest and New England, as shown in the following database.
Minnesota (70.8 percent) and Maine (70.2 percent) were the only states where more than 70 percent of all adults voted in the 2008 election. Next were New Hampshire at 69.8 percent and Wisconsin at 68.5 percent.
If the state-by-state count had been restricted to U.S. citizens, rather than all adults, Minnesota's rate would have been listed as 75.0 percent.
At the bottom of the scale were two states where fewer than half of all adults went to the polls four years ago: Hawaii (46.8 percent) and Texas (48.8 percent).
read … Minnesota and Maine boast the highest voter turnout rates
| Hawaii |
522,000 |
53.5% |
457,000 |
46.8% |
Related: Hawaii Family Forum Launches Voter Registration Drive |