Michigan again was in the Top 10 for voter turnout in the 2012 election, though participation was down from 2008.
A study by Nonprofit Vote, a nonpartisan organization, compiled turnout for all 50 states and found that Michigan ranked 10that 65.3 percent. In 2008, the state ranked eighth with 71.1 percent turnout in the presidential election.
Minnesota was the top state with a 76.1 percent turnout last November.
Only five states posted a turnout that was higher or the same as in 2008 – Utah, Colorado, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Iowa. Michigan was in the middle of the pack, with a 5.8 percentage point drop. The largest decline occurred in Alaska, where the ballot minus Sarah Palin resulted in a 13.4 percentage point drop.
Not surprisingly, the charts show that swing states were among those near the top of the turnout list, except for Nevada, which was in the bottom 15. After the train wreck that the Nevada Republican caucuses degenerated into last year, maybe Nevada should just sit out the next election.
Sean Sullivan of The Washington Post notes that President Obama carried 17 of the top states with the highest turnout.
Sullivan reports that, of the nine states where Election Day registration was an option in November, seven placed in the top 20 in overall turnout, including No. 1 Minnesota.
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