<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of today's (November 20, 2014) Spokesman-Review.</div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------------</div><div><br></div><div><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; clear: both; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; line-height: 1.2; font-size: 28px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">Idaho voter turnout ‘abysmal’ at 38 percent</h1><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">BOISE – As Idaho certified its election results Wednesday, it became official: This year was the first time that less than 40 percent of the voting-age population cast ballots in a general election.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Frankly, it was disappointing,” Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said. “We broke through a barrier that we didn’t want to break through.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The previous low – 40.21 percent of the voting-age population – came in the midterm election in 2010, as Idaho has continued to see declining voter participation, a trend that’s been steady since 1980.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Idaho’s not alone – Ysursa said the national average turnout this year was 38 percent of voting-age population. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It’s abysmal,” he said, “and we need to turn it around.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Voter turnout was low in Washington as well, largely because of a lack of competitive races at the top of the ticket. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But voter turnout in Washington generally has been on the upswing in recent years, especially since the advent of voting by mail. Washington dipped below 40 percent of its voting-age population in midterm elections in 1978 and 1990, but it hasn’t happened since then. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Generally, it’s robust,” said David Ammons, spokesman for the Washington secretary of state’s office.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Michael McDonald, a University of Florida professor who heads the United States Elections Project, said turnout lagged across the country in states where there weren’t competitive races at the top of the ticket, like hot races for U.S. Senate seats. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“That said, Idaho usually does better than other states that might have lack of competition,” he said. One factor that tends to work in Idaho’s favor is that it’s one of just eight states that allows voters to register at the polls on Election Day. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Final turnout figures showed that 56.1 percent of Idaho’s registered voters participated in the election. That translates to just 37.59 percent of Idaho’s voting-age population.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Washington, 53.5 percent of registered voters cast ballots. The state still is calculating the percentage of the voting-age population, but early estimates put it at roughly 40 percent. In Washington’s midterm election in 2010, 72 percent of registered voters cast ballots, which was 50 percent of the voting-age population.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ysursa has led efforts to make voting easier in Idaho, from Election Day registration to no-excuse absentee voting and early voting. He has led moves to let 17-year-olds serve as poll workers, and runs a statewide mock election for high school government classes.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“And yet our voting participation has gone down,” he said. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We’re building a cycle of nonvoting. We’ve got to reverse that trend. I don’t know what the magic answer is – I’ve been trying for 40 years.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ysursa is retiring this year after four decades in the Idaho secretary of state’s office. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kootenai County had the fourth-lowest turnout in the state this month, at 52.1 percent of registered voters.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Idaho’s voter turnout rises in presidential years and hit 74 percent of registered voters – 57.6 percent of the voting-age population – in 2012. But it’s still declining overall.</span></p></div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------------<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's room at the top they are telling you still.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- John Lennon</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div></div></div></body></html>