Throughout United States history, voter turnout among the voting eligible population has varied, ranging from below twelve percent in uncontested elections, to 83 percent in the 1876 election. In early years, turnout in presidential elections was relatively low, as the popular vote was not used in every state to decide who electors would vote for. When this was changed in the 1824 election, turnout increased dramatically, and generally fluctuated between seventy and eighty percent during the second half of the nineteenth century. Until the 1840 and 1842 elections, midterm elections also had a higher turnout rate than their corresponding presidential elections, although this trend has been reversed since these years.

Declining turnout in the twentieth century An increase in voting rights, particularly for black males in 1870 and for women in 1920, has meant that the share of the total population who are legally eligible to vote has increased significantly; yet, as the number of people eligible to vote increased, the turnout rate generally decreased. Following enfranchisement, it would take over fifty years before the female voter turnout would reach the same level as males, and over 150 years before black voters would have a similar turnout rate to whites. A large part of this was simply the lack of a voting tradition among these voter bases; however, the Supreme Court and lawmakers across several states (especially in the south) created obstacles for black voters and actively enforced policies and practices that disenfranchised black voter participation. These practices were in place from the end of the Reconstruction era (1876) until the the Voting Rights Act of 1965 legally removed and prohibited many of these obstacles; nonetheless, people of color continue to be disproportionally affected by voting restrictions to this day.

Recent decades In 1971, the Twenty-sixth Amendment lowered the minimum voting age in most states from 21 to 18 years old, which greatly contributed to the six and eight percent reductions in voter turnout in the 1972 and 1974 elections respectively, highlighting a distinct correlation between age and voter participation. Overall turnout remained below sixty percent from the 1970s until the 2004 election, and around forty percent in the corresponding midterms. In recent elections, increased political involvement among younger voters and those from ethnic minority backgrounds has seen these numbers rise, with turnout in the 2018 midterms reaching fifty percent. This was the highest midterm turnout in over one hundred years, leading many at the time to predict that the 2020 election would see one of the largest and most diverse voter turnouts in the past century, although these predictions then reversed with the arival of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, 2020 did prove to have the highest turnout in any presidential election since 1900; largely as a result of mail-in voting, improved access to early voting, and increased activism among grassroots organizations promoting voter registration.

Since 1964, voter turnout rates in U.S. presidential elections have generally fluctuated across all age groups, falling to a national low in 1996, before rising again in the past two decades. Since 1988, there has been a direct correlation with voter participation and age, as people become more likely to vote as they get older. Participation among eligible voters under the age of 25 is the lowest of all age groups, and in the 1996 and 2000 elections, fewer than one third of eligible voters under the age of 25 participated, compared with more than two thirds of voters over 65 years.

This statistic illustrates the participation rate of voters in the United States midterm elections from 2002 to 2022, by age. In 2022, 25.6 percent of voters aged 18 to 24-years-old voted in the midterm elections, compared to 64.6 percent of voters aged 65 years and older.

United States presidential elections are quadrennial elections that decide who will be the President and Vice President of the United States for the next four years. Voter turnout has ranged between 54 and 70 percent since 1964, with white voters having the highest voter turnout rate (particularly when those of Hispanic descent are excluded). In recent decades, turnout among black voters has got much closer to the national average, and in 2008 and 2012, the turnout among black voters was higher than the national average, exceeded only by non-Hispanic white voters; this has been attributed to Barack Obama's nomination as the Democratic nominee in these years, where he was the first African American candidate to run as a major party's nominee. Turnout among Asian and Hispanic voters is much lower than the national average, and turnout has even been below half of the national average in some elections. This has been attributed to a variety of factors, such as the absence of voting tradition in some communities or families, the concentration of Asian and Hispanic communities in urban (non-swing) areas, and a disproportionate number of young people (who are less likely to vote).

Intro

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.

Context

The historical trends in voter turnout in the United States presidential elections have been determined by the gradual expansion of voting rights from the initial restriction to white male property owners aged 21 or older in the early years of the country's independence, to all citizens aged 18 or older in the mid-20th century. Voter turnout in United States presidential elections has historically been higher than the turnout for midterm elections. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/U.S._Vote_for_President_as_Population_Share.png" alt="f">

Content

Turnout rates by demographic breakdown from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, November Voting and Registration Supplement (or CPS for short). This table are corrected for vote overreporting bias. For uncorrected weights see the source link.

Original source: https://data.world/government/vep-turnout

The U.S. midterm elections are general elections that are held in four year intervals, approximately two years after each presidential election. Midterm elections are used to determine all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, approximately one third of all Senate seats, two thirds of state governors, and a variety of local and municipal positions. Midterm elections traditionally have a much lower turnout than presidential elections, with turnout among U.S. adults ranging between 38 and 56 percent, compared with a range between 54 and 70 percent in presidential elections. Since 1964, white voters have consistently had the highest turnout rate in midterm elections, particularly non-Hispanic whites. Black voters have been voting at a similar rate to the national average in the past decade; although it is still just one percent below the national average. Since records became available, Asian and Hispanic voters have traditionally voted at a much lower rate than black or white voters, and have consistently had turnout rates at approximately half of the national average. The 2018 midterm elections saw an unprecedented increase in voter turnout, with the national average increasing by over ten percent; the high turnout in this election has been characterized as a reaction to "Trump's America", and saw significant gains for the Democratic Party, particularly for candidates who were female, non-white or members of the LGBT community.

In U.S. presidential elections since 1964, voters in the 18 to 24 age bracket have traditionally had the lowest turnout rates among all ethnicities. From 1964 until 1996, white voters in this age bracket had the highest turnout rates of the four major ethnic groups in the U.S., particularly those of non-Hispanic origin. However participation was highest among young Black voters in 2008 and 2012, during the elections where Barack Obama, the U.S.' first African-American major party candidate, was nominated. Young Asian American and Hispanic voters generally have the lowest turnout rates, and were frequently below half of the overall 18 to 24 turnout before the 2000s.

This dataset was used to conduct the NYC Campaign Finance Board's voter participation research, published in the 2019-2020 Voter Analysis Report. Each row contains information about an active voter in 2018 and their voting history dating back to 2008, along with geographical information from their place of residence for each year they were registered voters. Because this dataset contains only active voters in the year 2018, this dataset cannot be used to calculate election turnout.

The Voter Participation indicator presents voter turnout in Champaign County as a percentage, calculated using two different methods.

In the first method, the voter turnout percentage is calculated using the number of ballots cast compared to the total population in the county that is eligible to vote. In the second method, the voter turnout percentage is calculated using the number of ballots cast compared to the number of registered voters in the county.

Since both methods are in use by other agencies, and since there are real differences in the figures that both methods return, we have provided the voter participation rate for Champaign County using each method.

Voter participation is a solid illustration of a community’s engagement in the political process at the federal and state levels. One can infer a high level of political engagement from high voter participation rates.

The voter participation rate calculated using the total eligible population is consistently lower than the voter participation rate calculated using the number of registered voters, since the number of registered voters is smaller than the total eligible population.

There are consistent trends in both sets of data: the voter participation rate, no matter how it is calculated, shows large spikes in presidential election years (e.g., 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024) and smaller spikes in intermediary even years (e.g., 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022). The lowest levels of voter participation can be seen in odd years (e.g., 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023).

This data primarily comes from the election results resources on the Champaign County Clerk website. Election results resources from Champaign County include the number of ballots cast and the number of registered voters. The results are published frequently, following each election.

Data on the total eligible population for Champaign County was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, using American Community Survey (ACS) 1-Year Estimates for each year starting in 2005, when the American Community Survey was created. The estimates are released annually by the Census Bureau.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of providing the standard 1-year data products, the Census Bureau released experimental estimates from the 1-year data in 2020. This includes a limited number of data tables for the nation, states, and the District of Columbia. The Census Bureau states that the 2020 ACS 1-year experimental tables use an experimental estimation methodology and should not be compared with other ACS data. For these reasons, and because this data is not available for Champaign County, the eligible voting population for 2020 is not included in this Indicator.

For interested data users, the 2020 ACS 1-Year Experimental data release includes datasets on Population by Sex and Population Under 18 Years by Age.

Sources: Champaign County Clerk Historical Election Data; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (24 November 2025).; American Community Survey, 2023 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (10 October 2024).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (5 October 2023).; Champaign County Clerk Historical Election Data; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (7 October 2022).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (8 June 2021).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2018 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (8 June 2021).; Champaign County Clerk Election History; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2017 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (13 May 2019).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2016 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (13 May 2019).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (6 March 2017).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2014 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (15 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2013 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (15 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (15 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (15 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (15 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2009 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (15 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2008 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (15 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2007 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (15 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2006 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (15 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2005 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B05003; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (15 March 2016).

The current dataset captures voter registration counts and voter 'turnout', or the percentage of registered voters who voted in each election, since 2015. The data is aggregated at various levels including the political precinct (division), political ward, and city-wide and shows results for different elections (primary, general, special). Historical releases of this data prior to 2015 were separate datasets, one for voter turnout and one for voter registration.

In U.S. presidential elections since 1964, voter turnout among male and female voters has changed gradually but significantly, with women consistently voting at a higher rate than men since the 1980 election. 67 percent of eligible female voters took part in the 1964 election, compared to 72 percent of male voters. This difference has been reversed in recent elections, where the share of women who voted has been larger than the share of men by around four percent since 2004.

This web map displays data from the voter registration database as the percent of registered voters by census tract in King County, Washington. The data for this web map is compiled from King County Elections voter registration data for the years 2013-2019. The total number of registered voters is based on the geo-location of the voter's registered address at the time of the general election for each year. The eligible voting population, age 18 and over, is based on the estimated population increase from the US Census Bureau and the Washington Office of Financial Management and was calculated as a projected 6 percent population increase for the years 2010-2013, 7 percent population increase for the years 2010-2014, 9 percent population increase for the years 2010-2015, 11 percent population increase for the years 2010-2016 & 2017, 14 percent population increase for the years 2010-2018 and 17 percent population increase for the years 2010-2019. The total population 18 and over in 2010 was 1,517,747 in King County, Washington. The percentage of registered voters represents the number of people who are registered to vote as compared to the eligible voting population, age 18 and over. The voter registration data by census tract was grouped into six percentage range estimates: 50% or below, 51-60%, 61-70%, 71-80%, 81-90% and 91% or above with an overall 84 percent registration rate. In the map the lighter colors represent a relatively low percentage range of voter registration and the darker colors represent a relatively high percentage range of voter registration. PDF maps of these data can be viewed at King County Elections downloadable voter registration maps. The 2019 General Election Voter Turnout layer is voter turnout data by historical precinct boundaries for the corresponding year. The data is grouped into six percentage ranges: 0-30%, 31-40%, 41-50% 51-60%, 61-70%, and 71-100%. The lighter colors represent lower turnout and the darker colors represent higher turnout. The King County Demographics Layer is census data for language, income, poverty, race and ethnicity at the census tract level and is based on the 2010-2014 American Community Survey 5 year Average provided by the United States Census Bureau. Since the data is based on a survey, they are considered to be estimates and should be used with that understanding. The demographic data sets were developed and are maintained by King County Staff to support the King County Equity and Social Justice program. Other data for this map is located in the King County GIS Spatial Data Catalog, where data is managed by the King County GIS Center, a multi-department enterprise GIS in King County, Washington. King County has nearly 1.3 million registered voters and is the largest jurisdiction in the United States to conduct all elections by mail. In the map you can view the percent of registered voters by census tract, compare registration within political districts, compare registration and demographic data, verify your voter registration or register to vote through a link to the VoteWA, Washington State Online Voter Registration web page.

This dataset contains counts of voter registration and voter turnout for all counties in the United States for the years 2004-2022. It also contains measures of each county's Democratic and Republican partisanship, including six-year longitudinal partisan indices for 2006-2022.

Similarly to U.S. presidential elections, female voter participation overtook male voter participation in recent decades. While the share of male voters was five percent higher than female voters in 1966, female voters have consistently voted in higher numbers since 1986, while 51percent of eligible female voters participated in the 2018 midterm elections, compared to 47 percent of eligible male voters.

Context

I like history, so figured I would compile a dataset on all US Presidential elections throughout history, and how they went.

Content

Inside are datasets for the winners, candidates, and turnout for each presidential election.

Acknowledgements

Banner Image By Gilbert Stuart https://www.clarkart.edu/artpiece/detail/george-washington, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=591229

In U.S. presidential elections between 1964 and 2016, the turnout rate among eligible voters in the 25 to 44 age bracket generally decreased, from 69 percent to 49 percent, although there was an increase of six percent in the 2020 election. White voters in this age bracket have generally had the highest turnout rates in the twentieth century, particularly those of non-Hispanic origin, however African American voters have also had a high participation rate since the 2000 election, even exceeding the white non-Hispanic turnout in 2012. Asian American and Hispanic voters have consistently had the lowest turnout rate among those in this age group, and from 1988 until 2016, neither group had a turnout rate above thirty percent.

This study uses prediction market data from the nation’s historical election betting markets to measure electoral competition in the American states during the era before the advent of scientific polling. Betting odds data capture ex ante expectations of electoral closeness in the aggregate, and as such improve upon existing measures of competition based on election returns data. Situated in an analysis of the1896 presidential election and its associated realignment, I argue that the market odds data show that people were able to anticipate the realignment and that expectations on the outcome in the states influenced voter turnout. Findings show that a month ahead of the election betting markets accurately forecast a McKinley victory in most states. This study further demonstrates that the market predictions identify those states where electoral competition would increase or decline that year and the consequences of these expected partisanship shifts on turnout. In places where the anticipation was for a close race voter expectations account for a turnout increase of as much as 6%. Participation dropped by 1% to 6% in states perceived as becoming electorally uncompetitive. The results support the conversion and dealignment theories from the realignment literature.

In the 2024 presidential election, about ** percent of voters aged between 18 and 29 participated in the election -- a slight decrease from the previous election year, when about ** percent of youths voted in the election. The highest youth turnout rate was in 1972, when **** percent of voters between the ages of ** and ** voted in the election.

Context

Here comes the July 25th 2018 and Pakistan will see the 13th election (1954, 1962, 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2008 and 2013) since independence. It’s middle of the week (Wednesday) with an expected temperature of 27-33 degree Celsius with almost no chances of rain anywhere in the country.

We predict the historic voters’ turn out in this election of 57-61%. Historically the average turn out is 45% since 1977 (lowest 35% in 1997, highest 55% in 1977 and 53% in last elections). Pakistan ranked 164th out of 169 nations in voters’ turn out; Australia being the first with 94.5% turn out.

Voters’ participation in the country is very diverse, historically Musakhel and Kohlu yield less than 25% whereas Layyah and Khanewal yield more than 60% and everything else is in between. Punjab has the highest and Balochistan has the lowest voters’ turnout.

The contest will bring 3,675 candidates for 272 national assembly seats, that is 13 candidates on average per seat. PTI has unleashed 244 candidates (highest in number by any political party). Islamabad will see 76 candidates just for 3 seats fighting to rule the capital that guarantees the psychological edge.

There a quite few interesting facts about these elections, for example we will see the highest number of Lotas (candidates who often change their party affiliation) ever. PTI believes to win the election no matter what may come while the survey pundits predicts the PML(N) lead of at least 13% over PTI.

The history of elections and the charges of corruption, voters’ fraud, ghost votes, interferences by deep state or violence go hand by hand. There is (almost) no country in the world without the fear or accusations of such incidents in their elections. We are releasing the complete National Assembly Elections’ Results dataset for 2002, 2008 and 2013 elections in CSV files for public and calling all data scientists, international observers and journalists out there to help us achieve our inspirations.

Content

Three CSV files for complete election results for the national assembly of Pakistan for 2002, 2008 and 2013. The file contains Seat, Constituency, Candidates Name, Party Affiliation, Votes, TotalValidVotes, TotalRejectedVotes, TotalVotes, TotalRegisteredVoters and Turnout variables for each seat.

Acknowledgements

The dataset should be referenced as “Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani, Sana Rasheed, Muhammad Usman, Muhammad Ilyas and Qazi Humayun, Pakistan Elections Complete Dataset (2002, 2008, 2013), Kaggle, July 7, 2018.”

Inspiration

Here is the list of ideas we are working on and like you to help with. Please post your kernels and analysis

1. Map each NA constituency to a District. Get the list of Districts in Pakistan. So we will know how many constituencies we have in each district and which ones? Please update the dataset version on this page.

2. Find and Convert the current 2018 candidates list to Excel sheet and upload here

3. Find out total no of candidates in 2018 elections, from each party, from each province, total no of parties and Avg. no of candidates per seat

4. Calculate the voter’s turn out in each NA. Highest, lowest etc. Make a historical timeframe so we would know how many people voted in each NA in 2002, 2008 and 2013

5. Do analysis on invalid votes in each NA in all elections. Do we see any patterns here?

6. Can we predict the effect of rain on voter’s turn out in a given constituency?

7. Find out how many NEW candidates we have this time who have never contested any elections before? How many in each party?

8. Can we make District Profiles with good visuals and heat-maps of which party would be leading in which district?

9. Can we color the map of Pakistan (as we do in the US with Red and Blue) for each district? We can have a color or PML(N), PTI, PPP and MMA (only four major parties to start with)

10. Can we find out Swing Districts and the Confirmed Districts for major parties?

11. Are there any external datasets that we can join with this dataset to do some analysis? Please post the links or update the datasets here

12. Make the Candidates’ profile so we know his party position in each election and whether he lost or won the last election(s). You can whatever values and information as you like

13. Get the “Lota” Score for each candidate. So anyone with more than 2 would be a “Certified Lota”. These candidates are the ones who have changed their parties by x no of times, from independent to PPP, from PTI to PML etc.

14. Get the “Confirmed Constituencies” where historically we have only one sided results. For example, PPP would always win from NA-XYZ or Zardari have never lost an election doesn’t matter where he ran from. Which party would definitely win which seats?

15. Get the list of “Swing Constituencies” which historically are as random as anybody’s guess. For example, NA-XYZ voted for PTI in 2002, then went to PPP in 2008, then to PMLN in 2013 and so on. Once we have this list we can go further down and talk in detail the margins of win/loss in previous elections, who are the candidates (their profiles, district profiles, voter turnout etc.) and even results of bi-elections. But it is very important to get this list in first place. This is where can apply some models to do predict which way it will sway

16. Make the “Party Potential” list. For Example, PML(N) with all its candidates, profiles etc. has the potential to win 86 seats, PTI 65, PPP 43 etc. Here we can predict which party would form the government in which province?

17. Find out how many people voted so far in Pakistan in last 3 elections. Max, Min, Avg. Per Seat, Per Province? Can we hypothesize that that avg. no of voters in Punjab per seat (who go out and vote) is double than the avg. no of voters in KPK? Or voter turnout in Bunner is less than 25% while in Chakwal It is more than 65%?

18. Popular Vote winner. Even if PML(N) lose, can we say that it will fetch max no of votes from the country by vote count only? Or is it true for PPP or PTI?

19. Find “Fake Candidates” the people who are running but have no chance to win. Like no past elections or political history. These are the one who will withdraw 24 hours before the elections

20. Find the “Independents” who will go to the highest bidder after winning

21. Find anything interesting you can on candidates. Like is it true if candidates’ name start from M or A, he has twice the chances of winning than the candidates whose names start with other letters?

22. Surprise Me!

In the 2016 presidential election, turnout among those aged 45 to 64 years reached its lowest level, at less than 62 percent, but it then rose above 65 percent in 2020. White voters in this age bracket have had the highest turnout rate in all of these elections, especially white voters of non-Hispanic origin; except for the 2012 election where Black voters had the highest turnout rate. As with other age groups, Asian American and Hispanic voters traditionally have much lower turnout rates, often around half of the national average for those in the 45 to 64 age bracket.