Question

Outline the issues and challenges that affect voter turnout. Your response should be at least 200 words in length.

Answer 1

The number of eligible voters who cast their opinions in an election process, are known as voter turnout ​​​​​​. In different countries ,there are different criteria for being eligible to vote . Age and proof of citizenship are the 2 most common and widespread requirements but some countries also look at race , religion , family backgrounds, sex to decide its number of adult voters .

Post 1970s , most of the nations have observed a fall in voter turnout rate. The causes behind this are from various stages of economic, technological, demographic, cultural, psychological and institutional factors.

• Competitiveness in the election process highly impacts turnout rates . The less is the level of competition, the less will be the rate of turnout.
• Election type also plays a vital role in determining turnout rate where the large time gap between first round and run-off elections tend to lower voter turnout. Usually run-off elections see lower participation than the primary ones especially if the former coincides with several other elections.
• Habit is a strong predictor for deciding participation rate . It can be tracked from past voting record where not participating in one election can become a consistent habit .
• Educational background of a person decides his awareness of social and political responsibilities as a citizen and therefore people with low or no educational knowledge tend to ignore their duties making the turnout rate fall.
• Demographics:

1. Age:- Young adults are more unlikely to vote than their older (30 or above) counterparts as in most cases the sense of responsibility is more in older people .
2. Ethnicity:- Discrimination on the basis of race or colour gets reflected in the voter turnout rate . The ones who get deprived of basic necessities of life are indifferent with the change in Government.
3. Socio-economic status:- The wealthy share of the society get better amenities and hence participate more whereas the financially unstable people lose hope in the election process.
4. Gender:- Women are observed to be participating more cautiously in the voting process compared to their male counterparts . Interestingly this finding gets reversed in case of older women who are less likely to turnout in vote than older men .

Apart from these , there are several other factors like lack of consciousness in family , undesirable candidates, childhood influences, internal political efficacy which challenge the voter turnout of a nation.