ROAD BLOCK: Defining the Voter Gap

Large gaps in voter participation today mirror income and social disparities. Gaps in voter participation also track differences in civic engagement of all kinds from contacting elected officials to participation in community affairs. Who votes and who doesn’t vote impacts who elected officials pay attention to, the course of public policy and the quality of American democracy. It also impacts civic participation of all kinds. People who don’t vote are less likely to self-identify as stakeholders in their communities. They are less likely to volunteer, contact their elected officials or participate in public life. Frequent voters, on the other hand, are more likely to engage in community affairs, serve on boards and commissions and even enter public service themselves. Are these gaps unchangeable? No. Many advanced democracies have considerably smaller differences in voting by levels of income or education. When looking at voter turnout gaps by demographics such as income, education, and ethnicity, there are two important factors to consider:

• Turnout gaps by income and education relate to multiple factors. One such factor is a greater overall cynicism about politics in American society. Another is a sense of powerlessness among lower-income voters, who may feel that politics is for those wealthy individuals who can influence elections through large campaign contributions (or even finance their own campaigns for office). Gaps in participation also reflect election practices that disproportionately impact lower-income populations. These practices can be as specific as statewide criminal disenfranchisement laws, or as general as the often-high financial and educational “cost” of voting. For example, less- resourced Americans move more and have less permanent addresses. As a result, they will encounter more problems with maintaining their voter registration or using increasingly popular mail-in ballots. A low income may inhibit a voter’s ability to acquire transportation to the polls, and often decreases a voters’ workday flexibility on Election Day. As these populations are subject to fewer appeals from candidates and campaigns, who prefer to focus their limited resources only on likely voters, these factors continually reinforce themselves.

• Turnout gaps by ethnicity tend to reflect income, age and education gaps. Turnout gaps by ethnicity are largely due to differences in income, educational attainment and age. When these factors are equal within a voting group, gaps between white and black voters start to disappear. The voting rates of Latino and Asian-American populations (to a lesser but still significant extent) also approaches equality along racial lines when income, age, and education gaps are erased.

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John Brown