5 States With The Worst (And Best) Voter Turnout

Hispanic-vote-voters-voting-rights-act-texas

You can have the biggest signs. You can have the most volunteers. You can even have the most money. Even with all of that, at?the end of the day only one thing really wins elections: people actually voting?for you. The right to vote is one of the most essential rights a democratic society can have, yet in the United States this important civic duty is often neglected and suppressed. That’s why the U.S. as a whole?falls behind in voter turnout beyond almost every other industrialized nation.


To help put things into perspective, the organization Nonprofit Vote put together a chart showing the voter turnout for each state and the District of Columbia based on voting statistics from the?2012 General Election. ?Overall, 57.5% of all eligible voters participated in the last major national election. As for the individual states, those numbers range from the mid-70s to the mid-40s. Below are the results for the best and worst voter turnouts by state.

The Top 5?States With The Worst Voter Turnout:

5. Arkansas

Arkansas gay marriage

Turnout: 51.0%

 

4. Texas

Alamo Texas

Turnout: 50.1%

 

3. Oklahoma

Oklahoma postcard

Turnout: 49.6%

 

2. West Virginia

Thomas, West Virginia

Turnout: 46.8%

 

1. Hawaii

Hawaii

Turnout: 44.5%

 

The Top 5 States With The Best Turnout:

5. Iowa

Iowa historic mill

Turnout: 70.2%

 

4. New Hampshire

Wolfeboro, New Hampshire--where a police commissioner resigned under fire for calling Obama the N-word. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Turnout: 70.9%

 

3. Colorado

Colorado River

Turnout: 71.1%

 

2. Wisconsin

Madison wisconsin

Turnout: 73.2%

 

1. Minnesota

St. Paul minnesota

Turnout: 76.1%

Is your state not in the top 5 in either category? See how it ranks by checking out the complete list.

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H/T Washington Post

Thomas Leger is a college student at Sam Houston State University.