Best news I heard all week- 2012 May Mark First Time Black Voter Turnout Rate Surpassed Whites

[slackmaster]

4. That's a small piece of good news against a backdrop of larger bad news

i.e. the fact that overall voter turnout was lower in 2012 than it was in 2008 or 2004.

Black voters were a little more energized than other voters, which is nice, but the overall picture is pretty negative.

A report estimating the percentage of eligible voters who cast ballots in Tuesday's election shows the rate was lower than in the past two presidential contests, though it surpassed the rate from 2000.

Thursday's report, from the Center for the Study of the American Electorate, put 2012 voter turnout at 57.5% of all eligible voters, compared to 62.3% who voted in 2008 and 60.4% who cast ballots in 2004. In 2000, the turnout rate was 54.2%.

The group estimated 126 million people voted in the election, where President Barack Obama defeated GOP nominee Mitt Romney. That means 93 million eligible citizens did not cast ballots.

In all states except two (Iowa and Louisiana) the turnout rate was down from four years ago, though six states had higher total numbers of people voting than in 2008: Delaware, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, North Dakota and Wisconsin....

Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/national/election-results-2012-voter-turnout-lower-than-2008-and-2004-report-says#ixzz2GONJGytX