NJ’s voter turnout in each presidential election year is shocking

Are you done with lying politicians on both sides of the aisle? Or was it just this year you were done?

Don’t even think of complaining about the outcome of an election you didn’t bother voting in. For this year’s presidential election that was an awful lot of you.

Which seems crazy considering how contentious and vitriolic it was. Here’s how it broke down in New Jersey.

According to an article on nj.com, of New Jersey residents who were registered to vote never bothered to vote: More than one in three.

In an election year like none other, that is appalling. Is it the realization we’re not a swing state and it will surely go blue that keeps people on the sidelines? Is it time to look at the Electoral College, or would that do nothing?

For over half a century, the number of registered voters actually voting in New Jersey has been mostly dropping. What’s truly sad is with early in-person voting and mail-in ballots, it is now easier than ever for people who want to vote to do so.

Here is a look at how many don’t want to.

Take a cold hard look at the year followed by the percentage of registered New Jersey voters who simply did not bother casting a vote.

1976 — 19%

1980 — 20%

1984 — 21%

1988 — 23%

1992 — 17%

1996 — 28%

2000 — 30%

2004 — 27%

2008 — 27%

2012 — 33%

2016 — 32%

2020 — 24%

2024 — 35%

It didn’t used to be this way. In the first part of the 20th century, people voted in greater numbers. No wonder the cries of protecting democracy fall on deaf ears when so many aren’t interested in participating in it.