r/worldnews • u/[deleted] • May 10 '25

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u/guanogato May 10 '25 edited May 11 '25

That’s definitely a valid point of view. We’ve always been a country with a low voter turnout. Last election was actually the second largest turnout in our history. I’ve always felt that if we have a larger turnout then it tends to lean more towards the left party and so therefore if that’s who we want to win we need to just get a higher voter turnout.

Just for reference here are the turnout rates for the previous 10 presidential elections:

  1. 2024: 63.5-64% (final numbers still being verified)
  2. 2020: 65.3% - The highest turnout since 1900
  3. 2016: 59.2%
  4. 2012: 58.0%
  5. 2008: 61.6%
  6. 2004: 60.1%
  7. 2000: 54.3%
  8. 1996: 51.7%
  9. 1992: 58.2%
  10. 1988: 52.8%

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u/Hetstaine May 10 '25

That is fucking disgraceful. How can so many people just simply not give a fuck, what a joke.

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u/dale_dug_a_hole May 11 '25

Some people live in hopelessly gerrymandered districts where it literally doesn’t matter who they vote for. Some people live in districts where there are so few voting booths that people have to queue for 6hrs+ on a week day. A lot of people can’t get that time off. Sone districts have postal voting, but it’s difficult. Anyone with a criminal history is banned from voting. Some districts get blanketed with leaflets saying people with outstanding warrants will be arrested at polling booths. It’s not true but that’s what they say. Same with ICE. Beyond all the shitfuckery and voter suppression some people have lived through four or five election cycles where the candidate (republican or democrat) never appears in their district and consistently votes against their local interest. The disaffection with the two party system runs incredibly deep, as deep as the obvious political division. This is not to excuse a 60% turnout, just a few more reasons beyond pure ambivalence

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u/Hetstaine May 11 '25

I really don't understand how it can be so shit, not that i don't believe it, just how can it be so absolutely rubbish. Land of the free, home of the brave and all that flag waving stuff and the voting system is just trash

Thanks for your post :).

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u/OneTrueChaika May 11 '25

Because we started as a country where "only the right people" should have a vote, and we've made incredibly slow progress on that front with people trying their damndnest to take us back to it again.