Okay, officially there were 231,229,580 U.S. adults of voting age on election day Nov 4 2008

[whistle]

...yet only 128,833,931 votes were cast for the U.S. presidental candidates representing 55.7% voter turnout. What happened to that other 44.3% who did not vote?

2008
United States *
VAP 231,229,580
% Non-citizen 8.6%
Prison 1,566,526
Probation 2,418,574
Parole 587,305
Total
Ineligible Felons 3,363,118
Overseas Eligible 4,972,217

Total eligible 213,005,467
Turnout ** 128,833,931
Percent voted 60.2%
Not voted 84,171,536

What happened with those 39.8% elgible adults who did not cast a vote? How many legitimate votes were purged and not counted? How many voters were denied their right to vote? How many were prevented from voting? Answers?

Sources:
* http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2008G.html
** calculated from data at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008

[Richardo]

1. The relevant percentage is voters:eligible voters

At 60% turnout, that's outstanding. I'd say the great majority of those 40% non-voting never vote.

[Zynx]

2. About 30% of Americans are pathetic individuals who don't think about anything beyond

how they are going to get drunk later in the night.

[whistle]

5. That's an opinion, but are there statistics that support that? We know that many drunks and addicts

...do find their way to the polls and do cast their vote.

I agree that there are addiction afflicted people who can't function and so never vote. I doubt that percent would be as high at 30% otherwise no matter which we would look in our society, we would be immediately in contact with such people, eh. I think that number is much lower maybe between 1% to 3% perhaps. There would also be the people affected by severe illnesses and even those who are terminally ill but again that number as it would relate to casting a vote in a Federal election would be in the 1% to 3% range.

That still leaves 20% or 42.7 million adult people who could have voted but did not. We need to know why they did not!

[Zynx]

14. I'm just approximating from personal experience.

It's a bit of hyperbole about the sad state of a lot of people's lives. They never think about the world outside of them.

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. Yeah, but two thirds of that number

would be the dumbass 20% who still "approve" of the Chimp. And you know they voted for Moosealini because she's as dumb as Bush, but with boobies!

(spare the "sexist" accusations...I'm talking about Freeper mentalities here, folks)

[RagAss]

19. Don't give us drunks a bad name ! I not only voted...I drove voters for early voting

in Florida for 2 weeks !!!!!

[whistle]

3. But we don't know really, nor do we know the reasons why they don't vote

...I would think hard core non-voters should make up no more than 15% of the citizen population, so why did the other 25% not vote? That number could well be the difference between a congress and presidency which continues to pander to the wealthiest individuals and corporations in the country or finally getting a government which carries out the will of the people.

[lurky]

4. I know smart people who didn't vote in this past election.

Their attitude was that NY is going to be a blowout and there were no major issues or down-ticket races to motivate them. I still think it's lame, but it's probably pretty common in places where the outcome is a foregone conclusion (New York, Texas, etc.

[Ozma]

9. I had never thought about that. You're probably right. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

7. There are some that don't vote because they believe they are ineligible.

Here in Indiana it is legal for felons or others that have been imprisoned to vote as long as they are not incarcerated on Election Day. Some believe that once they have been in prison they can no longer vote.

[old mark]

8. For the US, that is a pretty high percentage of actual voters, no? nt

[Ozma]

10. Compared to what?

Or where?

[BlooInBloo]

12. According to wiki, turnout was the highest since 1968.

Was there anything of special importance going on in 1968?

:P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections


EDIT: Hmm... - looks like my greater-than-less-than-ometer is on the fritz. Shoulda said 2nd highest in that time period.

[old mark]

16. Compared to the usually pathetic turnout we get in US

presidential elections - IIRC, usually more in the 35-45% range.


Many complain, few vote.

mark

[BumRushDaShow]

11. What % are homeless, in the hospital, or are infirm?

[tabbycat31]

13. what about non-US citizens

I know when I did voter registration, we had a lot of people who are not US citizens that would have registered if they were eligible to.

[mwei924]

15. Some people aren't political junkies. Voting may not be a priority for them.

[Radical Activist]

17. I suspect a high number were kept from voting

due to burdensome registration laws and early deadlines. I doubt numbers for that are collected but I see it happen in every election.

[Juche]

18. Not everyone should vote

If you want to vote and are moderately informed about civic, have at it. But from what I've seen in my day to day life, there are some people who choose not to vote and I am grateful for that fact.

[LWolf]

20. Perhaps there was no one on the ballot who represented them.

Get rid of the 2 party lock on the system, and the winner-takes-all formula, and you might see more eligible voters showing up.