Tagged: voter turnout

A Presidential election always brings more registered voters to the polls than 'off-year' elections.

But as the voter numbers begin to be scrutinized, we see that overall turnout was down in this Presidential election.

While they're still "unofficial numbers," the Michigan Secretary of State said the turnout for the 2012 Presidential election was lower than the past two.

Here are the numbers they sent me:

• 2012: Almost 4.8 million voters; 64 percent
• 2008: 5 million voters; 67 percent
• 2004: Almost 4.9 million voters; 68 percent

In late October, the Washington Post posted that lower turnout was expected across the country:

With less than a week to go in the 2012 election, voters are less enthusiastic about casting ballots than they were in either of the last two presidential elections, according to a new Gallup poll.

The numbers suggest that there could well be a dropoff in voter turnout on Election Day.

If you look more closely at the counties in Michigan, you see a similar picture. Turnout was down.

Detroit election officials are estimating a 10 to 15 percent turnout in next week's statewide primary, comparable to the primary election turnout of 14 percent four years ago, reports the Associated Press.

Director of Elections Daniel Baxter said in a news conference today that the city expects to have up to 33,000 absentee votes counted by election night. That's about 6 percent of the city's 553,165 voters.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan election officials say 16 percent of the state's registered voters cast ballots in this week's presidential primary election.

The secretary of state's office said Thursday 1.2 million of the state's nearly 7.3 million registered voters participated.

About 21 percent of the state's registered voters took part in Michigan's 2008 presidential primary, when Republicans had a contested race but Hillary Rodham Clinton was the only major Democratic candidate on the ballot.

Luce County had the highest voter turnout on Tuesday with 27.5 percent of registered voters casting ballots. Baraga County was second with 27.25 percent. Ottawa County came in third with 25.5 percent voting.

Mitt Romney won the popular vote in his home state, but will split Michigan's 30 convention delegates with second-place finisher Rick Santorum.

Local elections are underway across the state today. Among other votes in Michigan, two mayors of large cities will be elected, Detroiters will vote on changes to their city charter, and a state representative is up for recall. But, despite the fact that there are important issues on today's ballots, very few voters will actually make it to the polls.

Michigan Radio's Jennifer White spoke with Jack Lessenberry, Michigan Radio's Political Analyst, about why voter turnout is historically low in local elections that are held in so-called "off-years."

Here are some numbers for you from the Michigan Secretary of State's office.

• 95.5% - percent of the voting age population in Michigan registered to vote
• 7.28 million people registered - a record for a Michigan gubernatorial election
• 7.40 million people - the highest number of registered voters Michigan has ever seen (2008 presidential election)

But just because people are registered to vote doesn't mean they will.