In 2012, 61.3% of the voting-eligible population in Ohio voted for president. It ranked 19th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia for turnout that year.
In the US overall, 58% of the voting-eligible population cast a ballot for president.
Differences in state-by-state turnout can be attributed to several factors, including a state’s battleground status, demographics and laws, according to Michael P McDonald, associate professor of political science at the University of Florida.
Explore how voter turnout has changed in every state over the past 30+ years below. For more information on voter-registration deadlines, check here.
What determines turnout?
Battleground states such as Florida and Ohio tend to see higher-than-average voter turnout because campaigns invest more time and money there, holding rallies and town halls, buying TV ads, and running extensive voter-mobilization drives.
McDonald, who runs the United States Election Project, an online repository of election statistics and laws, said that residents of battleground states may also feel their votes matter more, which encourages them to turn out.
The character of a state’s electorate also influences participation; age, income, and especially education are good predictors of voter turnout. In short, “older people tend to vote more, wealthier people tend to vote more, and more highly educated people tend to vote more”, McDonald said.
Such demographics help explain why some northern and midwestern states, which have higher educational attainment overall, have consistently high turnout rates. But McDonald noted that many of those states also have political climates that encourage voting in other ways.
As McDonald put it: “Turnout is higher in states that make it easier for people to vote than in states that make it harder for people to vote” – which means that laws matter.
Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have sought to make it easier for people to vote through same-day voter registration. Three more states – California, Hawaii and Vermont – have passed similar laws that are not yet in effect.
Same-day registration helps boost voter participation by allowing residents to both register and vote on the day of the election. Most other states require voters to register at least seven to 30 days ahead of time in order to vote on election day. Same-day registration increases voter turnout by 5%-7% “without any reported increase in voter fraud”, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
In 2012, four out of the five states with highest turnout allowed same-day registration. Minnesota – which has topped the list of states with highest voter turnout in every presidential election but one since 1980 – has had same-day registration since 1974. (The state also has a highly educated and relatively wealthy population.)
More recently, several states have begun automatically registering residents to vote when they interact with the department of motor vehicles, unless they specifically opt out.
States that make it harder for people to vote – or tried to – include Mississippi and North Carolina, which enacted tough voter ID requirements and curtailed early voting.
Only a few studies have examined the effects of the most recent and onerous wave of voter restrictions, which began to gain momentum after the 2010 election. But such studies have found evidence that identification requirements suppress turnout.
An analysis from the Government Accountability Office, which examined the effects of new voter ID laws in Kentucky and Tennessee between 2008 and 2012, found that such requirements decreased voter participation by 2%-3%. Another study, published in February by a team from the University of California, San Diego, found larger effects. That analysis estimated that strict photo ID laws decrease turnout among Democrats by 7.7%, and among Republicans by 4.6% – with disproportionate effects on minorities.
