One argument used for years in Utah is that people are voting less often because they don’t think it matters.
The state’s voter participation in 2016 was 39th in the nation, with about 58 percent of eligible voters casting ballots in the presidential election, down from a high of 70 percent in 1976, according to research by the Utah Foundation, a nonprofit think-tank based in Salt Lake City.
Part of the problem is that uncompetitive races have become the norm, according to the analysis, which found that 71 percent of the state’s general election races were won by a margin of greater than 30 percent.
