Voter Turnout

Percentage of voting-eligible population who voted in the past general election.

Source:
L2 and American Community Survey.
24%99%64.9
Dashboard-City Average

Why do we measure Voter Turnout?

Voting is a key aspect of civic engagement. It empowers individuals to address local and national issues including those that contribute to shaping population-level health outcomes.1-3 Community-level civic engagement is generally associated with higher levels of social trust, social cohesion, and resource sharing—all of which are associated with better self-rated health and well-being.4 Additionally, individuals that are civically engaged tend to have better mental and physical health outcomes.5-6

States with higher rates of civic engagement and voter turnout tend to have better public health outcomes.7-8 However, individuals and communities confronting substantial health inequities often face significant barriers to voter participation, limiting their voice in selecting elected officials and in associated decisions.9-10 For example, research has found that voters in predominantly Black neighborhoods were 74% more likely to wait more than half an hour as voters in majority White neighborhoods.11 Statewide laws and local election practices significantly impact access to voting, directly affecting overall voter turnout.9,12

Fostering inclusive democracy, a sense of community, and social cohesion are essential in advancing health equity.7-8,10,13 Focusing on improving voter turnout is a concrete way to operationalize civic engagement, a key component of social cohesion more broadly. By reducing barriers to voter participation, communities can work towards achieving better health outcomes for all.3,7-8,12-13

How do we measure Voter Turnout?

Voter turnout represents the percentage of the voting eligible population who voted in a general election.

Strengths and Limitations

Strengths of Metric

Limitations of Metric

• This metric offers geographically detailed data for voter turnout, which is not readily available to the public.

• Voter Turnout provides valuable insights into civic participation and social cohesion, both of which are key areas of focus for Healthy People 2030.3-4

• The metric, calculated as a percentage of the Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP), may underestimate or overestimate voting participation in a given place depending on the local context. This is due to several factors, including that the CVAP represents an average of the voting-eligible population over a 5-year period and does not account for residents who may not be eligible to vote due to incarceration or are registered to vote elsewhere such as students or military personnel. Estimates at the census-tract level may be less accurate than those at the city level due to limitations in the methods used to attribute voters to places.

Calculation

Voter Turnout is calculated using the following formula:

vt calc

For more information on the calculation, please refer to the City Health Dashboard Technical Document.

Data Source

Estimates for this metric are from the National Voter File, provided by L2, and the American Community Survey’s (ACS) Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) by Race and Ethnicity - A Special Tabulation.

Years of Collection

Calculated by the Dashboard Team using data from 2020.

References

  1. Blakely TA, Kennedy BP, Kawachi I. Socioeconomic inequality in voting participation and self-rated health. Am J Public Health. 2001 Jan;91(1):99-104. doi: 10.2105/ajph.91.1.99. PMID: 11189832; PMCID: PMC1446487

  2. Dubowitz, T., Nelson, C., Weilant, S. et al. Factors related to health civic engagement: results from the 2018 National Survey of Health Attitudes to understand progress towards a Culture of Health. BMC Public Health 20, 635 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08507-w

  3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Increase the proportion of the voting-age citizens who vote - SDOH‑07. Healthy People 2030. https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/social-and-community-context/increase-proportion-voting-age-citizens-who-vote-sdoh-07

  4. Klar, M., & Kasser, T. (2009). Some benefits of being an activist: Measuring activism and its role in psychological well-being. Political Psychology, 30(5), 755–777. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2009.00724.x

  5. Nelson, C., Sloan, J., & Chandra, A. (2019, September 18) Examining Civic Engagement Links to Health: Findings from the Literature and Implications for a Culture of Health. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2019. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3163.html. Also available in print form.

  6. Morris, K. & Grange, C., (2024, March 02) Growing Racial Disparities in Voter Turnout, 2008–2022. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/growing-racial-disparities-voter-turnout-2008-2022

  7. Ayers, J., & Mahs, G. (2024, February 2) How Health Departments Can Promote A Healthy, Inclusive Democracy. De Beaumont Foundation. https://debeaumont.org/news/2024/voter-participation-is-a-path-to-health-equity-how-health-departments-can-promote-a-healthy-inclusive-democracy/

  8. Chen, M. & Haggag, Kareem & Pope, Devin & Rohla, Ryne. (2020). Racial Disparities in Voting Wait Times: Evidence from Smartphone Data. The Review of Economics and Statistics. 104. 1-27. 10.1162/rest_a_01012.

  9. Morris, K., Perez, M., Brater, J., & Deluizo, C. (2018, July 20) Purges: A Growing Threat to the Right to Vote. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/purges-growing-threat-right-vote

  10. Schraufnagel, S. (2024). Voting Restrictions and Public Health: An Analysis of State Variation 1996–2020. State and Local Government Review, 56(1), 60-75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160323X231202421

  11. National Public Health Week (2024) Civic Engagement. https://nphw.org/Themes-and-Facts/2024-Civic-Engagement

  12. American Public Health Association (2022, November 08) Advancing Health Equity through Protecting and Promoting Access to Voting. https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2023/01/18/access-to-voting

Last updated: July 17, 2024