Voter Participation (Average) - Female in Washington

Washington

Voting is a form of active social engagement and is associated with better self-reported health. Furthermore, election outcomes affect many aspects of life, including individual wealth, rights, education, social services programs and health care access and quality. 

Women gained the right to vote a century ago and, since 1980, have consistently voted at significantly higher rates than men. There is evidence that women vote differently from men, focusing on issues such as funding for child welfare and public health.

Although voter turnout has increased steadily over the last several decades, disparities continue to exist among certain groups of women. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the prevalence of voter turnout in 2020 was higher among:

• Non-Hispanic white adults compared with non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic Asian and Hispanic adults. A recent study found that strict identification laws negatively impact the turnout of Hispanic, Black and mixed-race citizens.
• Those with a bachelor’s degree or higher compared with those with less than a bachelor’s degree.
• People without disabilities compared with those with disabilities.

Strategies can be implemented at multiple levels to increase voter participation in the United States, such as removing barriers by simplifying voter registration processes, improving accessibility and targeting underrepresented populations like high school and college students.

Healthy People 2030 identifies civic participation as a key issue in the Social and Community Context domain and has a goal of increasing the proportion of the voting-age population who vote.

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Brennan, Jan. “Increasing Voter Turnout in Local Elections.” National Civic Review 109, no. 1 (Spring 2020): 16–23. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.32543/naticivirevi.109.1.0016.

Brown, Chloe L., Danyaal Raza, and Andrew D. Pinto. “Voting, Health and Interventions in Healthcare Settings: A Scoping Review.” Public Health Reviews 41, no. 1 (December 2020): 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-020-00133-6.

Hajnal, Zoltan, Nazita Lajevardi, and Lindsay Nielson. “Voter Identification Laws and the Suppression of Minority Votes.” The Journal of Politics 79, no. 2 (2017): 363–79. https://doi.org/10.1086/688343.

Kim, Chang-yup, Saerom Kim, and Myoungsoon You. “Civic Participation and Self-Rated Health: A Cross-National Multilevel Analysis Using World Value Survey.” Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, January 27, 2015. https://doi.org/10.3961/jpmph.14.031.

Miller, Grant. “Women’s Suffrage, Political Responsiveness, and Child Survival in American History.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 123, no. 3 (August 1, 2008): 1287–1327. https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2008.123.3.1287.

Schur, Lisa, Meera Adya, and Mason Ameri. “Accessible Democracy: Reducing Voting Obstacles for People with Disabilities.” Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy 14, no. 1 (March 2015): 60–65. https://doi.org/10.1089/elj.2014.0269.