It is paradoxical that in the country that is the world’s greatest advocate of democracy, turnout at elections is amongst the lowest in the democratic world, particularly as other forms of participation, such as pressure group activity, are high. However when measured by voting age population turnout appears low whereas there is usually a high turnout of registered voters. In most states some voter have to make an effort to get registered , but it has become easier with the Help America vote act 2012 which allows same-day registration and early voting in many states, there are also registration drives to mobilize the vote and there are no barriers to voting. Despite this many voters fail to register, the registration process explains this to some extent but does not explain it in full as to why Americans do not appear to value the right to vote theses expel nations tend to vary from democratic overload, media dominated campaigns,lack of choicer, decline in partisanship, the electoral system and the electoral college , voter apathy and cynicism , Hapathy and finally differential abstention.
One reason why people do not appear to value the right to vote is democratic overload and voter fatigue. This is where because of federalism and separation of powers mean that there are a numerous elections at different levels of government and for different offices as well as primaries and direct democracy. Americans vote for the president to the local dog catcher in 80,000 units of government, leading to permanent campaigns and bed sheet ballots which may lead to voter fatigue, higher alienation levels of abstention through too many participation opportunities. Therefore, the huge number of elections for a wide range of posts from the president down to local civil officials resulting in a sense of permanent campaigning causing voters to switch of. Media dominated campaigns can also play a big part in abstention as the politics of sound bites, photo-opportunities and...