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Voter Turnout Low So Far This Year
Tue Jul 2, 4:21 PM ET
By WILL LESTER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Voter turnout for midterm election primaries could hit a record low this year if a trend from the first six months of 2002 holds up.

Turnout of the voting-age population in the primaries has been less than half of what it was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, said a report Tuesday.

Turnout in the 16 states that had statewide primaries in both major parties averaged 16.2 percent of the voting-age population, down from 17.6 percent in 1998 and 33.2 percent in 1966, according to the report by the nonpartisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.

"Some states have gone up, but most states have gone down and a majority of states are trending toward record lows," said Curtis Gans, director of the committee.

The highest turnout in states with two statewide party primaries was in South Dakota, where 31.7 percent of the voting age population cast ballots, followed by Oregon and Alabama.

The biggest increases compared with 1998 came in Pennsylvania, Oregon, Illinois and Texas.

Nine of the 16 states which had statewide primaries in both major parties had new record lows for turnout: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio and West Virginia. In Iowa, incumbent Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin ( news, bio, voting record) had little opposition, with only a few write-in votes against him.

Gans said his report is preliminary and includes 20 states; many more states hold primaries in the coming months.

The increase in patriotism that came after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 has not translated into greater participation in elections.

"Neither history nor the present indicated Sept. 11 would increase turnout," Gans said. "It created a national unity which had the byproduct of robbing us of divisive issues. We were asked to do nothing but return to normal and buy goods and stocks."

The decline has been led by the shrinking voting rates of white males. The increasing role that women play in the overall electorate is not a product of their increased vote, but a sign that the percentage of women voting has declined less than that of men, the report said.

Several groups have joined in an effort to recruit another 500,000 poll workers after a shortage of such people was cited as one of many problems in the 2000 elections.

An estimated 1.4 million people currently serve as poll workers, according to county elections officials, but more are needed.

The drive is being led by the National Association of Counties, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP and the National Association of County Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks. The groups will promote the campaign to their members and ask corporations to give employees administrative leave to work at the polls.