Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network

Voter Turnout 2008

America Goes to the Polls: A Report on Voter Turnout in the 2008 Election

NVEN - The Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network is pleased to announce the release of America Goes to the Polls: A Report on Voter Turnout in the 2008 Election. The new report provides the best analysis of voter turnout in the states and among various constituencies currently available.

National Voter Turnout Trends

62% of eligible voters turned out in the last presidential election, a 40 year record. Comparable turnout has not been seen since the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson elections of 1960s. Although turnout has gone up, there is still room for growth. More than one out of every three eligible voters did not participate in the 2008 Presidential Election. Increasing turnout in the future will depend upon election reforms such as expanded voter registration, better early voting and greater electoral competition (public financing, ranked choice voting, etc.).

Primary Source: U.S. Election Project, http://elections.gmu.edu/voter_turnout.html

US Turnout in 2008 vs Others

State Voter Turnout Trends

Minnesota once again led the nation in voter turnout with an impressive turnout of 78%. Minnesota and several of the other top ranking states were early adopters of Election Day Registation, which allows voters to update their registration with a new address or last name or register to vote for the first time at their polling place on Election Day. Four of the top ten states in voter turnout have some form of Election Day Registration.

North Carolina, which led the nation in improvement in turnout compared to 2004 with an increase of 10.8%, combines a form of Election Day Registration with early voting, providing voters with "one stop" early voting. A record setting 57% of North Carolina's voters chose to vote early this year, no doubt cotnributing to North Carolina's improvement compared to 2004.

Several States Show Impressive Gains in Voter Turnout

Primary Source: U.S. Election Project, http://elections.gmu.edu/voter_turnout.html

Download U.S. Election Project turnout data in Excel format: U.S. Turnout 1980-2008

States highlighted in purple experienced an increase in turnout over '04 of more than 4%.

* in 2007, North Carolina adopted Same Day Registration during its 16 day early voting period.
** North Dakota does not have voter registration.

State	Voting Eligible Population	Turnout	Rank 2008 (2004)	Growth over 2004	Growth Rank	EDR	SS
Minnesota	3,721,943	78.5%	1 (1)	1.6%	29	x	x
Wisconsin	4,113,565	73.3%	2 (2)	-4.8%	49	x	x
Maine	1,024,699	72.7%	3 (3)	-1.0%	39	x
New Hampshire	997,247	72.2%	4 (5)	1.7%	28	x	x
Colorado	3,441,907	70.5%	5 (11)	2.9%	22		x
Iowa	2,199,849	70.2%	6 (6)	0.3%	36	x	x
Michigan	7,263,250	69.4%	7 (12)	3.6%	18		x
Missouri	4,296,592	68.8%	8 (16)	2.7%	24		x
Alaska	477,763	68.5%	9 (7)	-3.3%	46
Oregon	2,695,058	68.5%	10 (4)	-3.0%	45
Virginia	5,500,265	68.2%	11 (30)	9.9%	2		x
Maryland	3,888,726	68.2%	12 (26)	6.5%	8
Florida	12,426,633	68.0%	13 (20)	2.7%	23		x
Connecticut	2,451,296	67.9%	14 (15)	3.9%	17
Washington	4,535,438	67.7%	15 (10)	0.4%	35
Ohio	8,541,239	67.6%	16 (9)	0.1%	37		x
Montana	741,538	67.1%	17 (18)	4.1%	15	x
Vermont	487,430	67.1%	18 (13)	1.3%	30
New Jersey	5,844,477	66.9%	19 (23)	3.5%	19
Massachusetts	4,652,749	66.7%	20 (21)	4.6%	12
North Carolina	6,551,412	66.5%	21 (37)	10.8%	1	xx*	x
Delaware	622,664	66.4%	22 (22)	1.9%	27
North Dakota	486,871	66.0%	23 (17)	1.1%	34	NR
Wyoming	389,304	65.8%	24 (14)	1.2%	33	x
Pennsylvania	9,363,381	64.9%	25 (25)	3.1%	20		x
South Dakota	598,635	64.7%	26 (8)	-8.3%	50
Idaho	1,034,402	64.5%	27 (19)	-0.2%	38	x
Nebraska	1,278,980	63.5%	28 (24)	-2.1%	43
Illinois	8,794,625	63.4%	29 (28)	4.3%	13
Kansas	1,978,713	63.1%	30 (27)	-1.7%	42
Rhode Island	754,538	62.9%	31 (35)	6.0%	10
Louisiana	3,158,676	62.7%	32 (29)	3.0%	21
California	21,993,429	62.5%	33 (33)	4.0%	16
Georgia	6,390,590	62.0%	34 (41)	7.5%	6
Mississippi	2,114,108	61.6%	36 (42)	8.9%	4
Dist. of Columbia	438,201	60.9%	37 (46)	6.3%	9
New Mexico	1,376,025	60.6%	38 (31)	2.3%	26		x
Indiana	4,634,261	60.5%	39 (43)	8.0%	5		x
Kentucky	3,156,794	58.9%	40 (34)	-1.4%	41
South Carolina	3,279,329	58.8%	41 (50)	9.8%	3
Nevada	1,652,846	58.7%	42 (44)	5.3%	11		x
New York	13,183,464	58.2%	43 (38)	1.3%	31
Tennessee	4,533,233	57.8%	44 (40)	1.2%	32
Oklahoma	2,578,351	57.3%	45 (36)	-3.4%	47
Arizona	4,096,006	56.7%	46 (47)	-2.5%	44
Texas	14,780,857	55.2%	47 (49)	2.4%	25
Utah	1,787,350	54.3%	48 (32)	-14.2%	51
Arkansas	2,033,146	53.9%	49 (48)	-1.4%	40
West Virginia	1,409,823	51.9%	50 (45)	-4.5%	48
Hawaii	898,922	50.7%	51 (51)	4.2%	14
US*	212,720,027	62.3%

Black and Latino Turnout

Black and Latino shared of the electorate were both up this year, with Latino share of the electorate continuing its steady increase, nearly doubling between 1996 and 2008. Black turnout meanwhile showed a marked improvement this year compared to recent election in which Black turnout had remained at around 11%.

Primary Source: CNN National Exit Poll for 1996 , 2000 , 2004 and 2008 General Elections, Pew Hispanic Center , US. Election Atlas , Secretaries of State.

Surge in African American Voters in 2008

Growing Latino Vote

Youth Turnout

Youth voter turnout rose dramatically this year, continuing a trend that began in 1992. Black youth in particular increased their share of the youth electorate to 17%. Latino youth share of the electorate also rose dramatically from 8% in 1996 to 17% this year, driving up Latino voters' overall share of the electorate.

Primary Source: CIRCLE (www.civicyouth.org )

State by State Voter Turnout Reports

Below is a set of reports on voter turnout in the 2008 election (accompanied by year-by-year comparison charts) produced by the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network for its partner nonprofit associations in 9 states.

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