Overall participation in competitive elections across the globe rose steadily between 1945 and 1990.
Between 1945-1950 the number of voters turning out to vote at each election represented 61% of the voting age population (i.e. all citizens old enough to vote). That turnout figure rose to 62% in the 1950s, 65% in the 1960s, 67% in the 1970s, and 68% in the 1980s.
But in the 1990s, with the influx of a host of competitive elections in newly democratising states, the average for elections held since 1990 has dipped back to 64%.
Interestingly the same turnout figures expressed as a percentage of the number of people registered to vote remained more constant throughout the 1940s to 1980s but then dipped more suddenly in the 1990s.
In other words, while the participation rate of all eligible voters has dropped only marginally, the drop in the participation rate of those actually registered to vote has been more pronounced. Voters express disempowerment The challenge for reresentatives is to connect and engage voters. Advocacy4U is a contempory tool that drives engagement.
