Democracy USA Advisory
August 8, 2003

VOTER TURNOUT PLUNGES IN PRIMARIES

Party primaries increasingly determine general election winner, but more and more voters stay home.

State Spotlight: As lack of competition increases in states like Virginia and New Jersey, primaries are becoming the decisive election in most states - and can have single digit turnout.

Washington, DC – August 8, 2003 –As evidenced by recent primary elections in New Jersey and Virginia, the well-publicized decline of voter turnout in U.S. elections over the last 40 years has been especially pronounced in party primary elections. This steady drop is especially troubling because primaries determine the overall winner in most legislative districts.

Voters in Virginia and New Jersey will elect state legislators this November, but most missed chances to change representation in June primaries. Only 44% of Virginia seats are even contested by two parties, and hardly any incumbents in either state are seen as remotely vulnerable – largely due to one-party districts crafted in redistricting in 2001. Primary turnout in 2003 fell to less than 9% in Virginia, while only 15% of New Jersey voters took to the polls.

According to the Committee for the Study of the America Electorate (CSAE), voter turnout in statewide party primaries has dropped 50% from its peak in 1966. The average turnout in the 18 Democratic and Republican statewide primaries in the spring of 2002 was 16%. Within these numbers are examples of staggeringly low turnout. Only 10% of Texans voted in the hotly contested U.S. Senate primaries. In New Jersey, turnout was only 3% of all registered voters when Republicans nominated Douglas Forrester to face incumbent Robert Torricelli.

The impact of these turnout numbers is exacerbated by a sharp rise in safe districts. Due largely to increasingly sophisticated gerrymandering and campaign tactics, most districts tilt strongly to one major party. Representation in open seats is often decided by a very small percentage of a district’s population in the dominant party’s primary. Incumbents generally face no competition.

“When you reach turnout levels as low as 9% for the Democrats and 7% for the GOP – and likely substantially lower for Congressional and lesser state and local office primaries – you are practically inviting organized factions with narrow and unrepresentative agendas to dominate the political process,” said Curtis Gans, director of the CSAE (www.gspm.org/csae, 202-546-3221)

The Center for Voting Democracy (www.fairvote.org, 301-270-4616) highlighted this lack of choice in its Dubious Democracy report. “When general elections aren’t competitive, the primary is the only game in town,” said Rob Richie, the Center’s director. “And as more people sit out, the legitimacy of the system is in question. To restore choice and ensure legitimate representation, we need to consider instant runoff voting and full representation in general elections.”

Democracy USA is a new initiative designed to protect, enhance and exercise the power of the right to vote. Its November 21-23 Claim Democracy conference in Washington, D.C. has backing from several leading national organizations. For more information visit www.DemocracyUSA.org.

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