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Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2000

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Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2000 Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2000 Issued February 2002 Population Characteristics P20-542 The right to vote is arguably one of the Population Survey (CPS) since 1964, data Current most important rights of citizenship in a on citizenship status have been collected Population democratic country, yet a substantial on a consistent basis in the CPS only number of U.S. citizens choose not to since 1994. Consequently, the second Reports exercise this right. This report examines section of this report provides an By Amie Jamieson, the levels of voting and registration in overview of historical trends in voting Hyon B. Shin, and the November 2000 Presidential election, and registration among the voting-age Jennifer Day the characteristics of people who report- population, without regard to citizenship ed that they voted or were registered for status. the election, as well as reasons why peo- ple did not vote. In contrast to previous Census Bureau About this report... reports on voting, in which voting and Voting and registration rates histori- registration rates were based on the vot- cally have been higher in years with ing-age population, this report presents Presidential elections than in the voting and registration rates based on "off" years. In this report, the 2000 the citizen population of voting age. data (a Presidential election year) The reason for this change is the are compared with data for previous increase in the proportion of noncitizens Presidential election years (1996, in the voting-age population during the 1992, 1988, etc.). past three decades. The proportions of noncitizens in November 2000 were par- The information on voting and reg- ticularly high among Hispanics (of any istration in this report comes from race) and Asians and Pacific Islanders the November supplement to the and reflect large-scale immigration to the Current Population Survey (CPS), United States. For further discussion of which asked respondents whether they were registered and whether the differences in voting and registration they voted in the election held on rates based on the voting-age population Tuesday, November 7, 2000. The and the citizen population of voting age, figures presented in this report may see the shaded box starting on page two differ from figures based on admin- of this report. istrative data or data from exit The first major section of this report dis- polls. For more information, see the cusses voting and registration of the citi- Measuring Voting in the Current zen voting-age population in the Population Survey section on November 2000 Presidential election. page 11. While data on voting and registration have been collected in the Current Demographic Programs U.S. Department of Commerce U S C E N S U S B U R E A U Economics and Statistics Administration U.S. CENSUS BUREAU Helping You Make Informed Decisions •1902-2002 CITIZENSHIP IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF VOTING STATISTICS. One of the primary criteria for being eligible to vote Figure 1 illustrates the three kinds of voting rates. is age. Since 1972, every state stipulates that a per- In November 2000, of the 203 million people who son must be at least 18 years of age to be eligible to were 18 and older, 186 million were citizens, and vote. Thus, the voting-age population, or the 18 130 million were registered. In the election, 111 and older population, is million people voted. a fundamental popula- Thus, the voting rates tion base used in pre- Figure 1. for the population 18 senting voting statistics. Voters Among the Total, Citizen, and older were In the election of and Registered Voting-Age 55 percent of the total November 2000, 111 Populations: 2000 population, 60 percent million people, or 55 per- (Population 18 and older, in millions) of the citizen population, cent, of the voting-age and 86 percent of the population voted. The 203 registered population. 186 Census Bureau has his- Citizenship and vot- torically estimated voting ing participation and registration rates 92 130 76 rates of racial/ethnic using this population. 19 Non-voting population groups. A second criteria for vot- Citizenship is especially ing eligibility is citizen- 111 111 111 Voting important in the consid- ship. Only citizens of population eration of racial and eth- the United States (either nic differences in voting native or naturalized) Total Citizen Registered rates. Recent immigra- are allowed to vote in population population population tion has differentially elections. By removing affected the proportion the ineligible nonciti- Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, November 2000. of noncitizens in these zens from the voting- groups — 2 percent of population pool, the White non-Hispanics voter turnout rate is were not citizens, compared with 6 percent of higher. The voter turnout rate for citizens was Blacks, 41 percent of Asians and Pacific Islanders, 60 percent in 2000.1 and 39 percent of Hispanics in 2000 (see Figure A third criteria is registration. Every state requires 2).2 Thus, voting rates based on the voting-age eligible voters to register to vote with the exception population and citizen population differ substan- of North Dakota. Most people who are registered to tially for the groups with large proportions of vote do vote — 86 percent in the 2000 election. noncitizens. For example, the voting rate for Asians and Pacific Islanders was 25 percent of the 1 Data for country of birth, citizenship status, and year of entry 2 The proportions of noncitizens for Hispanics and for Asians and have been collected in the basic Current Population Survey since Pacific Islanders were not significantly different. 1994. VOTING AND REGISTRATION 58 percent of citizens who voted in population was 70 percent, slightly OF THE VOTING-AGE CITIZEN 1996.4 Registration of the citizen lower than the 71 percent of citi- POPULATION zens registered in 1996. 4 Reported voter turnout was The estimates in this report are based on The number of people who voted in responses from a sample of the population. As slightly higher than in 1996... with all surveys, estimates may vary from the 2000, 111 million, fell short of the actual values for the entire population because record high, 114 million, set in In the election of November 2000, of sampling variation or other factors. All state- 1992 (see Figure 3). In fact, with the 60 percent of citizens who ments made in this report have undergone sta- tistical testing and meet Census Bureau stan- the exceptions of 1984 and 1992 voted was slightly higher than the dards for statistical accuracy. 2 U.S. Census Bureau voting-age population and 43 percent of the Figure 2. voting-age citizen population, while for Citizenship and Voting Rates by Race Hispanics, these proportions were 28 percent and Ethnicity: 2000 and 45 percent.3 (Percent) Citizenship and voting participation Proportion not citizens in the voting-age population among states. Voting rate based on voting-age population Voting rate based on voting-age, citizen population The distribution of citizens and noncitizens Voting rate based on voting-age, citizen, registered population throughout the United States influences voting rates among states. For states with a higher 2.2 White proportion of noncitizens, voting rates based 60.4 non-Hispanic 61.8 on the voting-age population are notably lower 86.4 than comparable rates based on the citizen population. For states with few noncitizens, 5.7 53.5 the two rates are similar. Black 56.8 For the majority of states, more than 95 per- 84.2 cent of their voting-age populations were citi- 41.3 zens. Certain states were exceptions — Asian and 25.4 20 percent in California were not citizens, Pacific Islander 43.3 and 13 percent were not citizens in New York 82.8 and Florida. 39.1 Hispanic 27.5 (of any race) 45.1 3 The voting rates were not significantly different for either 78.6 the total voting-age populations or the citizen populations of Hispanics and of Asians and Pacific Islanders. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, November 2000. when voter participation rates rose, Who votes? followed by Blacks (12 percent), increases in the number of people Hispanics (7 percent), and Asians The characteristics of people who voting since 1964 have been due and Pacific Islanders (3 percent).6 are most likely to go to the polls solely to the increased number of are a reflection of both the The likelihood of voting differed people 18 and older.5 racial/ethnic composition of the citi- among the racial/ethnic groups zen population and the attributes of ... and voter turnout remains (see Table A). As a proportion of up among registered voters. people with the biggest stakes in all voting-age citizens, White non- society: older individuals, home- Hispanic citizens had the highest Most people who are registered to owners, married couples, and peo- level of voter turnout in 2000 — vote actually vote. Among people ple with more schooling, higher 62 percent, followed by Black who were registered to vote for the incomes, and good jobs. November 2000 Presidential elec- 6 tion, 86 percent reported they White non-Hispanics top Because Hispanics may be of any race, data in this report for Hispanics overlap slightly voted, up from 82 percent in the citizen voting-age population. with data for the Black population and for the 1996 election. Historically, the like- Asian and Pacific Islander population. Based on The racial/ethnic distribution of the November 2000 Current Population Survey, lihood of actually voting once regis- the registered population and of 2 percent of the Black population 18 and older tered has remained high, with the and 1 percent of the Asian and Pacific Islander the actual voting population reflect population 18 and older were of Hispanic ori- peak at 91 percent in 1968.
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