Why does arkansas have a low voter turnout

When are polls open? Who Represents Me? Congress special elections Governors State executives State legislatures Ballot measures State judges Municipal officials School boards. How do I update a page? Election results. Privacy policy About Ballotpedia Disclaimers Login. Electoral systems policy. Primary elections policy. Redistricting policy. Recount laws. Ballot access for political candidates. Ballot access for presidential candidates. Ballot access for political parties. It is believed that the availability of mail voting helped increase overall voter turnout.

The highest voter turnout was in Minnesota , where Colorado follows with When it comes to the lowest voter turnout, Oklahoma ranked last with a turnout of just Hover over Click on a tile for details. Here are the 10 states with the highest voter turnout: New Jersey Voter Turnout By State Show Source.

Until , Arkansas held their nomination election later in the primary calendar, typically in May. This has had long-lasting consequences on priming the primary electorate to vote. Still, despite the state moving up their election to early March in , the rate of voter turnout in the primary did not increase significantly from previous contests. Arkansas ranks 48 out of 50 for voter turnout in the presidential election. Nationally, education is one of the best predictors of voter turnout, so it is no surprise that Arkansas has lower voter turnout compared to the other states.

A lack of electoral competitiveness, regardless of whether at the primary or general election stage, is also another explanation for low levels of voter enthusiasm. The Democratic Party dominated at both the presidential and statewide levels until the s, and local and state Republican candidates still faced an uphill struggle in the state until Yet, uncontested general elections were an uncommon sight during the era of Democratic Party rule in the state, except for when Senator Mark Pryor won reelection in without a Republican opponent.

However, the state rapidly realigned at these levels, and by the strength of the Republican Party in this now deeply red state left many congressional and state legislative seats going uncontested. In four years, the state went from Democrats controlling all statewide office, both U.