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2008 Elections

Low Voter Turnout

Low Voter Turnout
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   9.09

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    apathetic, proportional, set-up, suffrage, outdated, propaganda, cynicism, corrupt, presidential, representative, attribute, representation, independence, compromise, voter, democracy
     content words:    Revolutionary War, Civil War, United States, Electoral College, Many Americans

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Low Voter Turnout
By Jennifer Kenny 		  
1     Colonists fought for their independence from England during the Revolutionary War. From then on, the right to vote, or suffrage, became a right of more and more people. First, all male citizens over 21 gained the right to vote. Then, after the Civil War, the 13th Amendment gave all citizens, regardless of race, the right to vote. The 19th Amendment included women, the 23rd Amendment included residents of the District of Columbia, and the 26th Amendment included every citizen over age 18.
 
2     Despite the efforts people made throughout the years, millions have the right to vote but don't. Millions have not even registered to vote in the United States even though they are eligible.
 
3     People would like to think that low voter turnout is a recent election issue. They'll point to an outdated system or corrupt political issues. Interestingly, even in the best presidential turnout results, the nation never came close to 100% of the eligible voters turning out. The best turnout was for the 1960 Kennedy and Nixon presidential election. Even then, only 63% of those who could did vote. That means over one-third of those who could vote did not. However, most recent presidential elections report that only half of Americans who can vote do.

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