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Content: Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2004
U S C E N S U U.S.Department of CommerceS B U R E A U
Helping You Make Informed Decisions
Economics and Statistics Administration U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
P20-556
Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2004
Population Characteristics
Issued March 2006
Current Population Reports
By Kelly Holder
This report examines the levels of voting and registration in the November 2004 presidential election, the characteristics of citizens who reported that they were registered for or voted in the election, and the reasons why registered voters did not vote. The data on voting and registration in this report are based on responses to the November 2004 Current Population Survey (CPS) Voting and Registration Supplement, which surveys the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the United States. 1
The estimates presented in this report may differ from those based on administrative data or data from exit polls. For more information, see the sec- tion 
Accuracy of the Estimates. VOTING AND REGISTRATION OF THE VOTING-AGE CITIZEN POPULATION
Turnout for the November 2004 Election
In the presidential election of November 2004, the 64 percent of voting-age citi- zens who voted was higher than the 60 percent who turned out in 2000 (Table A). 2
This was the highest turnout in a presidential election year since
1
People in the military, U.S. citizens living abroad, and people in institutionalized housing, such as correctional institutions and nursing homes, were not included in the survey. For a discussion of the differences between the official counts of votes cast and the CPS data, see the section 
Measuring Voting in the Current Population Survey
2
The estimates in this report (which may be shown in text, figures, and tables) are based on responses from a sample of the population and may
1992, when 68 percent of voting-age citizens voted. 3
The overall number of people who voted in the November 2004 election was 126 million, a record high for a presidential election year. Voter turnout increased by 15 million voters from the election in 2000. During this same 4-year period, the voting-age citizen population increased by 11 mil- lion people.