4 - Local Political Participation, Municipal Elections, and the Prospects for Representation in Local Government

Summary

In 2017, researchers at Portland State University reached an eye-popping conclusion about the state of participation in local politics in the United States. Examining more than 23 million voting records, as well as information about community populations from the US Census, they estimated rates of voter turnout in the nation’s fifty largest cities. Their findings were staggering – and depressing. Across the fifty communities, the median turnout rate in municipal elections was only 20 percent of the eligible electorate, and in Las Vegas, Ft. Worth, and Dallas, turnout was in the single digits. “low voter turnout is a problem in cities across the country,” the study leaders concluded. “Too few people choose our local leaders.”