Title: Voter turnout - Wikipedia
Headings: Voter turnout
Voter turnout
Contents
Reasons for voting
Reasons for not voting
Significance
Determinants and demographics of turnout
Habit
Childhood influences
Demographics
Differences between elections
Competitiveness of races
Incarceration
Costs of participation
Knowledge
Weather
Hereditary factors
Household socialization
Ballot secrecy
International differences
Cultural factors
Institutional factors
Voter registration
Compulsory voting
Salience
Proportionality
Ease of voting
Voter fatigue
Voter pledges
Trends of decreasing turnout since the 1980s
Reasons for decline
United States
Ineligibility
See also
Notes
References
Further reading

Content: Voter turnout - Wikipedia
Voter turnout
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Percentage of a country's eligible voters who actually vote within elections
Voters lining up outside a Baghdad polling station during the 2005 Iraqi election. Voter turnout was considered high despite widespread concerns of violence. Part of the Politics series
Voting
Balloting
Ballots
Absentee ballot
Provisional ballot
Sample ballot
Candidates and Ballot measures
Write-in candidate
Electorate
Slate
Ticket
Collection
Ballot box
Compulsory voting
Early voting
Electronic voting
Open ballot
Polling place
Postal voting
Precinct
Vote center
Voting booth
Counting
Popular vote
Tally
Voting machine
Electoral systems
Plurality and majoritarian systems
First-past-the-post voting
Two-round system
Instant-runoff voting
Plurality-at-large voting
General ticket
Usual judgment
Proportional and semi-proportional systems
Single non-transferable vote
Cumulative voting
Binomial system
Party-list
Single transferable voting
Mixed systems
Majority bonus system
Mixed-member systems
Parallel voting
Voting strategies
Issue voting
Fusion voting
Split-ticket voting
Straight-ticket voting
Tactical voting
Vote pairing
Protest votes
Abstention
Donkey vote
Election boycott
None of the above
Refused ballot
Spoilt vote
Voting patterns and effects
Coattail effect
Likely voter
Paradox of voting
Passive electioneering
Vote splitting
Voter apathy
Voter fatigue
Voter turnout
Protest votes
Electoral fraud
Ballot harvesting
Ballot stuffing
Felony disenfranchisement
Voter suppression
Voter caging
Prevention
Election ink
Secret ballot
Voter registration
Politics portal
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In political science, voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Eligibility varies by country, and the voting-eligible population should not be confused with the total adult population. Age and citizenship status are often among the criteria used to determine eligibility, but some countries further restrict eligibility based on sex, race, or religion. After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1980s. In general, low turnout is attributed to disillusionment, indifference, or a sense of futility (the perception that one's vote won't make any difference). According to Stanford University political scientists Adam Bonica and Michael McFaul, there is a consensus among political scientists that "democracies perform better when more people vote." Low turnout is usually considered to be undesirable. As a result, there have been many efforts to increase voter turnout and encourage participation in the political process.