A new study finds that Utah’s voter turnout continues to slip, and noncompetitive races may be a significant factor.
Utah’s voter participation last year ranked 39th nationally, which is, frankly, pretty dismal. But it wasn’t always like that.
“Interestingly, about 40 years ago, we were much higher than the national average, we had great participation,” says Shawn Teigen, a research director at the nonpartisan Utah Foundation, which published a new report this week on voting trends.
“So you’ve seen participation in elections decrease across the nation, but we’ve decreased faster,” he says.
He says part of their research looked at competitiveness of state races, which has also worsened over time.
