There is good news coming on this front from an unexpected corner. According to a really interesting article in The Chronicle Of Philanthropy and written by Alex Daniels:
Nonprofits helped boost voter turnout by 11 percentage points during the 2018 elections, according to a study of voting patterns in seven states by Nonprofit Vote, which works with other charities to encourage voter participation.
The study found that 66 percent of people who were contacted by nonprofits and then signed voter-registration cards, made pledges to vote, or filled out vote-by-mail applications actually voted. That compares with a 55 percent turnout rate among people in comparable demographic categories that included gender, race, age, marital status, and geographic location.
Nonprofit Vote used voting patterns of 22,500 people who had been contacted by 64 of its partner organizations to make its determination.
“When we engage, we have impact,” said Brian Miller, the group’s executive director.
See full story here. As covered on Democracy Chronicles, there are many unexpected factors that research suggests affects US voter turnout. Influencing factors include things like cigarette smoking, wind speed, rain, bad weather forecasts, boredom, and delayed onset adulthood. This type of research is highlighted in the Democracy Chronicles Election Science archives as well as other important research in political science as it relates to democracy, the ultimate invention in political science.
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