this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2024
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In norway, the lowest voter turnout we've ever had is 75.4%
Fuck me, that’s awesome. Then Switzerland and the US are clearly doing something wrong. What is the average voter participation in Norway and how often can people vote?
I just looked at the primary elections where we pick the prime minister and parliament, not the smaller municipal elections.
Anyway, it's on average around 77-78%.
It's actually a bit surprising. When I saw these numbers, I thought "shit, 77% is our average? That sucks", heheh. Guess it's pretty decent after all
Yeah world class really.
I forgot to mention that we vote every 4 years on a municipal level and every 4 years on a national government level (offset by two years like summer and winter olympics).
Oh I had to vote three times last year (USA). Usually it’s twice but they called an august election in my state to try to pass a law to make ballot initiatives harder because abortion was a ballot initiative for our November election. I suppose you could have 6 elections in one year here: 2 primaries which don’t have to be the same day or any of the real election days, then quarterly elections, February is possible but I don’t think I’ve seen it, May is common, august I’ve seen once, and November happens basically every year and is this important one usually. Oh also there are emergency elections when someone dies or is forced to step down. And you kinda just have to keep track of it yourself and they don’t really tell you all this in school. You’re taught that elections are on the first Tuesday following a Monday in November. Oh and you don’t get time off work for it. Professional jobs are often cool with you being out the door asap or needing to shift your hours a bit, but most jobs aren’t.
So yeah I’d argue our lazy and uninformed populace is only one reason why we have shit turnout.
That sounds a little complicated as well, so it seems that might be a barrier to entry as well.
I can also imagine that people who have to work extra to make ends meet might not have the luxury of taking time off to vote?
Exactly. Now you can vote early. But it’s an ordeal. And by mail but it’s a whole thing. And you’re exhausted and working two jobs to try to cover rent. Politics really isn’t that relevant to your life is it?
Welcome to the heart of the empire.
Votes by mail sound a bit risky to me as well. I know the postal service has lost packages and stuff before. Are there special envelopes? Special ways to tell that the vote hasn't been lost or "lost"?
Also, is it at least free? Postage already paid for?