Lets face it; voter turnout in Hawaii has never been the stuff of legends. As a matter of fact, even when barrack Obama was up for re-election in 2012 the voter turnout in Hawaii was laughable, ranking lowest in the nation at 44.5 percent. This was according to WalletHub.com, which has all sots of interesting voter statistics.
Wallet Hub also ranked Hawaii as 49th out of all states and Washington, D.C., highlighting an age-old apathy problem that some observers say is not likely to improve. So why do voters not turn out in Hawaii? Do they not care? Do they only care about the local races for office?
The WalletHub study, which was released Monday, sizes up states in the following categories:
- Percentage of citizens who registered to vote in the 2012 election
- Percentage that actually voted in the last two elections
- The change in percentage of those who voted in the past two presidential election years
- Total political contributions among adults
- Civic education
Hawaii ranked last in the percentage of registered voters in 2012 and in the percentage change of those who voted in 2012 compared with 2008.
Voter turnout for this past primary in August was only 41.5 percent, which shows that the downward trend of voter turnout in Hawaii is only looking like it will get worse. If Hawaii couldn’t get a better turnout for home grown Obama, then it doesn’t look good.
One voter trend in Hawaii that is actually moving up is absentee ballots. There are still a good number of absentee ballots that are pushed through on voting years.
Hawaii needs to be more proactive in voter turnout. They need to have more of a voice in what is happening in the country. However, it doesn’t seem like voter turnout in Hawaii will be trending up anytime soon.
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