Exactly How Low Was NYS Voter Turnout?

Experts say that comparing who voted with who is registered is more accurate than who with who is eligible to vote. But let’s look at both.

November 5, 2014 NYS general election

• 3.6 million New Yorkers voted. (Source: Associated Press.)
• 32.5% of registered voters voted. (3.6m voting / 10.9 active registered voters. Source: NYS BOE stats.)
• 26.3% of eligible voters voted. (3.6m voters / 13.3m eligible to vote or VEP. Source: The Election Project.)

According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey estimates for the 2008-12 time period, on average during that period there were 13,204,950 people in NYS who were citizens of voting age (the Citizen Voting Age Population, or “CVAP”), give or take 15,054. That is, the eligible-to-vote population.  Here’s the link to the Census data.

The Election Project posted some numbers yesterday comparing turnout in recent elections with “VAP” (anyone 18 or older including non-citizens) and “VEP” (Voter Eligible Pop, which excludes non-citizens and also excludes prison population and other ineligible persons). For 2012, they put the “VEP” number a bit higher for NYS, at 13,319,786.  The VEP number is probably higher because it is a one-year snapshot rather than an average over 5 years.

(Thanks to Steve Romalewski for the heads-up.)