States with the Highest (and Lowest) Voter Turnout

States with the Lowest Turnout

10. Kentucky
> 2008 voter turnout: 57.9%
> Winning candidate: McCain
> Voting-eligible population: 3,152,629 (25th lowest)
> 2012 electoral votes: 8
> Median income: $40,062 (4th lowest)
> Pct. with HS diploma or higher: 82.3% (4th lowest)

The Bluegrass State has been a red state the past three presidential elections and has fairly consistently voted Republican since the 1950s. Like most of the states with the worst voter turnout, the percentage of Kentucky residents finishing both high school and college was near the bottom for each. The state had the fourth-lowest percentage of the population 25 and over with a high school diploma or higher, at 82.3%. It also has the fourth-lowest percentage with bachelor’s degree or higher, at 20.9%. After the 1990 census, Kentucky’s electoral votes dropped from nine to eight, where it will remain through the 2020 election.

9. Nevada
> 2008 voter turnout: 57.0%
> Winning candidate: Obama
> Voting-eligible population: 1,696,831 (16th lowest)
> 2012 electoral votes: 6
> Median income: $51,001 (19th highest)
> Pct. with HS diploma or higher: 84.8% (13th lowest)

Nevada is one of only two of the states with the worst voter turnout to vote for Obama in the 2008 election, the other being Hawaii. In the past nine elections, the state voted for the Republican ticket six times while voting for the Democrats three times. Nevada is also one of only two swing states from the past three elections in the bottom 10 states for voter turnout. Beginning with this election and going through 2020, Nevada will have 50% more electoral votes than it did in the 1988 election. This isn’t surprising considering the state’s population has tripled in the past 32 years, the fastest growth rate in the country.

8. Tennessee
> 2008 voter turnout: 57.0%
> Winning candidate: McCain
> Voting-eligible population: 4,563,192 (15th highest)
> 2012 electoral votes: 11
> Median income: $41,461 (6th lowest)
> Pct. with HS diploma or higher: 84.1% (11th lowest)

Tennessee has voted Republican with few exceptions in the past 60 years. In fact, Vice President Al Gore, who represented Tennessee in Congress for 16 years before his executive stint, narrowly lost the state in 2000. The percentage of the state’s population 25 years of age and older with a high school diploma was 23.4%, which is among the bottom 10. Similarly, the median household income of $41,461 was also in the bottom 10 states. Historically, Tennessee’s influence on the presidential race has remained relatively unchanged in terms of the electoral college — it has the same number of electoral votes as it did in the 1932 election, with an uptick of one vote after the 1940 census and a downtick after the 1970 census.

Also Read: America’s Most Obese States

7. Arizona
> 2008 voter turnout: 56.7%
> Winning candidate: McCain
> Voting-eligible population: 4,046,075 (19th highest)
> 2012 electoral votes: 11
> Median income: $46,789 (23rd lowest)
> Pct. with HS diploma or higher: 85.9% (18th lowest)

Arizona has almost tripled its share of electoral votes since the 1960 election when the state had just four votes. In the elections Arizona has participated in since becoming a state in 1912, it has voted Republican all but eight times out of the 28 presidential elections it has participated in — seven of those eight times were before 1950. Arizona had one of the 10 lowest voter turnouts in the country in each of the past three elections. However, during that time the state has continually improved its turnout percentage and its standing in relation to the other states. This year, it is predicted that Romney will carry Arizona, but it is also expected that Arizona may become a swing state down the road as the demographics of the population are expected to change.

6. Utah
> 2008 voter turnout: 56.0%
> Winning candidate: McCain
> Voting-eligible population: 1,700,286 (17th lowest)
> 2012 electoral votes: 6
> Median income: $54,744 (13th highest)
> Pct. with HS diploma or higher: 90.7% (9th highest)

Utah has much in common with other low-turnout states. The state is far from a bellwether in presidential elections — McCain won the state in 2008 with more than 62% of the vote.The state also has a disproportionate share of young people, as 24.3% of the voting age population is between ages 20 and 34 — the highest percentage in America. But unlike other states with the worst voter turnout, Utah’s percentage of the population over age 25 with a high school diploma, at 90.7%, was in the top 10 in the country. The percentage of the population with a college degree was in the top third.