State voter turnout apparently led nation

11/11/2006

About three in five eligible voters took part in Tuesday’s elections, well above the national turnout.

Pam Louwagie,
Star Tribune
Last update: November 08, 2006 – 9:44 PM

Minnesota once again apparently led the nation in voter turnout on Tuesday, with an estimated 59 to 60 percent of those eligible casting ballots, according to preliminary numbers.

Nationally, an estimated 40.4 percent of eligible voters turned out, according to a preliminary analysis by Curtis Gans at the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University in Washington, D.C. He said South Dakota had the second-highest turnout, more than 57 percent.

“Minnesota is typically above the national midterm turnout,” said Chris Gilbert, a professor of political science at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. “Voter turnout is a tradition in many ways, like partisan affiliations and leanings are a tradition in states. ... It is, I think, part of the culture.”

Presidential election years consistently bring out more voters.

On Tuesday, turnout in Minnesota was slightly lower than for the last midterm election, in 2002, when 63.59 percent of eligible voters participated, according to state numbers. In 1998, the previous midterm election year, turnout was 60.97 percent.

The 2002 election came during a battle for one of the state’s U.S. Senate seats and followed a plane crash in which Sen. Paul Wellstone died. The 1998 election saw young voters turn out in high numbers as Jesse Ventura was elected governor.

This year, about 2.2 million out of an estimated 3.7 million eligible voters cast ballots in the Minnesota U.S. Senate race. That’s about 59 percent, but state officials say the overall turnout figure could be higher once official tabulations are completed.

Close competition between the two dominant political parties and some close races were among the reasons for this year’s turnout, said David Schultz, a Hamline University political science and law professor.

With Minnesota being considered a purple state lately, Schultz said, voters were enticed by close contests such as those for governor and some congressional seats.

“A lot of voters feel like it’s worth turning out because their vote might actually make a difference,” he said.

He also pointed to get-out-the-vote efforts and hot-button national issues such as the war in Iraq.

Gilbert said a history of two well-functioning major political parties in the state has helped. The Independence Party’s presence on the ballot as a third major party also has helped drive voter turnout in recent years, he said.

And, Gilbert said, there’s the tradition factor. Minnesota is “a state of joiners,” he said, reflected in traditions of high participation in voluntary organizations and churches, as well as high participation at the polls.

Minnesota is often the national leader in voter-turnout. The state led the nation in the 2004 election, according to the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, which said 77 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, and the Census Bureau, which found that 79 percent voted that year.

Gans said last year that Minnesota’s turnout in 2004 was the highest for any state in any election since 1968.

The committee also found that Minnesota has been the turnout leader in the past three presidential elections and in seven of the past eight.