Utah has nation's worst voter turnout rate

Despite the money politicians spend courting Utahns and the constant pleas by ecclesiastical leaders to show good citizenship by voting, Utah now has the nation's worst voting participation rates.

That's according to a study released this week by the U.S. Census about the 2006 general election. As part of its regular massive surveying, the bureau asked Americans after the election two years ago if they voted — and why — to help show differences among groups and likely reasons for their actions.

Utah came in last among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Some 36.7 percent of Utahns age 18 and older — about one of three — reported voting in that election. Nationally, the average was 47.8 percent, about a third higher than in Utah. Minnesota had the highest turnout at 65.4 percent, almost double Utah's rate.

Why so low in Utah? Brigham Young University political science professor Kelly Patterson has some ideas.

"It (the 2006 election) was a very nondramatic, mid-term election where none of the races in the three congressional districts was competitive, and the statewide senate race wasn't competitive. Campaigns were not spending a lot of time motivating voters to register and get out to vote like we normally see with the most competitive races," he said.

Perhaps another factor, he said, is that Utah has more young people than most states, "and voter registration rates and voting are highly correlated with age" — with young people tending to vote less than older folk.

Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said her office has made so many efforts to make voting and registration easy that, "If people haven't voted, it's not because they do not know how. It's because they have chosen not to."

For example, she says her office sends postcards to every home where a registered voter lives telling them where to vote and where early voting is available. She has registration forms available in grocery stores and post offices. She goes to high schools and senior centers to encourage registration and even pushes it at home shows and garden expos.

Also, her office allows people to permanently request on her Web site that their ballot always be mailed so they need not worry about traveling to polls or standing in lines.

The Census shows that huge numbers of Utahns do not bother to register to vote.

It said Utah has the third-lowest reported registration rate among the states — 56.8 percent of adult citizens. Nationally, the average is 67.6 percent, about a fifth higher than in Utah.