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Whilst voting might seem simple, I was intrigued to read that in California voters have a 200+ page book concerning the elections including material relating to the other elected posts residents were voting on, plus the Propositions.

This aspect of US voting is not covered at all well in the UK media. I had assumed that the process was as simple as it was in the England - strolling down to the Polling Station and having at the most two ballot papers [the maximum defined in law here] with national and local election candidates. Voting seems to be a much more involved process in the USofA - not just for Congress but all sorts of other elected positions to think about and referenda on top of this.

Does this impact on levels of participation?

I don't believe the amount on the ballot has anything to do with not voting in America. I think it comes down to being uninformed and lazy. It is very easy to register to vote and most polling places are in the neighborhood. For the elderly or disabled, transportation is available. There is voting by mail and early voting so nobody has to stand in line. Voting is made very easy in America. I have heard many people say, "my vote won't count" or "who cares?" Corruption in politics, politicians are all corrupt so why bother voting? (I've heard this one many times) The inability to see that a vote can change a persons daily life has a lot to do with it and just plain irresponsibility. It is complacency on the part of many many Americans and it is very sad.

I am an American living in North Carolina, and I went to the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú website because I wanted to see what the British think of the results of our election. In responding to Sommers, I would like to say that most Americans are not "lazy". Most of us, work our fingers to the bone daily and don't receive nearly as much vacation time as the British do. I stood in line for over an hour last night, and was proud to do so. I believe more and more Americans are taking our countries politics seriously and getting out to the polls. How about some support from our brothers and sisters across the pond.

The problem is that people in America and extremely narrow minded. They believe that votes don't count, or that both parties are the same and that it does not matter who wins.. The narrow minded view that there are only 2 parties is the continued cause of many of the problems within the country. If people want REAL change, then vote for someone other than the Democrats or Republicans. There are always more options on the ballot than the 2 main parties.

The 2000 presidential election should have shown most people that who wins does matter. The country would be in a totally different place today had Gore won Florida. I am not saying he would have been a great president, but I have no doubt that we would not now be one of the most hated countries in the world.. or that the number of terrorists had increased.. or that we would have killed half a million Iraqi civilians.. or that we would have kicked out the Kyoto protocal.. etc..

Derek is completely wrong. If nothing else the 2000 election showed that every vote counts (unless you voted by absentee ballot in Florida where the Democratic party waged a concerted war on them to keep them off the books!).

Voting to for an independent is a waste of a vote. I would make it analogous to voting for a Liberal-Democrat in the UK. What does you vote get you?

Voting..."is a responsibility that people are shirking." Who does Catherine Green think she is? Maybe she should ask herself WHY Americans don't vote. Self-serving politicians, unclear voting results, a two party system that rarely strays far from the middle.
Give me a candiate that talks about poverty, AIDS research, socialized health care, equal education, renewable energy, the evils of Capitalism. I'll vote for that, but not until the ballot box ACTUALLY offers change.
Don't just compare me to Austraila or Iraq, give me a reason to vote.

Bill, I never said that votes do not count. I said that the perception is that they do not count.

Americans are not lazy or stupid. The fact that they are not voting in massive numbers indicates that the chattering classes are not making the politics relevant and, as in the UK, the political message is being lost in the campaign of cheap propoganda, aimed usually at the politicians not the policies.

Even with hundreds of TV channels and media outlets of all sorts the quality of debate is now reduced to the "sound bite". There comes the point where the only way of surviving the barrarge of rubbish is to psycologically filter it out.
The net result being disinfranchised groups and a low turn out.

I bet that in Iraq they didn't get the wall to wall years of jabbering.

In Iraq they want the freedoms that Americans have and admittedly that's a very strong sound bite.

I don't see a problem with low turnout.

- Low turnout points towards a lack of interest in the issues so for the non-voter everything must be fine.

- Low turnout means votes that are cast have more effect on the result.

- Low turnout means the results actually reflect the decisions made by people who care and presumablly thought about the issues.

I would rather the voting process be more difficult than easier. I don't want to deny anyone the right to vote, I just want to make sure they actually want to vote. Make all candidates write in candidates. Make all initiatives require written answers.

I want an educated, informed electorate who is passionate about voting and if that means only 10% of the population cares enough make it to the polls to vote that is great. Much better that we get intelligent results than results based on "party line" voting by people who can't tell the difference between Iraq and Iran.

BTW, I am one of those Californian voters and yes the election material weighed more than the phone book. Yes, I spent several evenings researching the initiatives and digging into the voting records of the candidates. Better that than the ballot that only has one choice on it.

I have yet to see a real breakdown of percentage of eligible voters who actually turned out to vote! Maybe I have missed it! It would be interesting to see that analysed by state, by age and by gender at the very least.
For example: Which state is electorally most responsible in exercising the franchise?
How did voter turnout compare with 2004 and 2002? How does it compare with other democracies, such as the UK?
Also, what are the specific reasons given by those who chose not to vote? An analysis of these might give some useful insights.
A bit more homework for your research staff, Guto Harri!

I don't understand why so many Americans see the US as the land of the free. Our soldiers, along with soldiers from the UK and other nations, have been dying to give freedoms to Iraqis and Afganis that Americans back home have been voting to take from each other. I am a human being. I should be eligible for the same rights that other US citizens take for granted, that my brother was blown up for, that our country was founded on. Theocracy, regardless of the book to which it looks for its guidance or the name by which it calls its god, is not democracy. It never will be.

There's not laziness in the US, in my view, there's distrust. And after Florida '00 who can blame them? Distrust of a system can only be helped by reforming the system.

As an Australian who routinely votes in a compulsory preferential voting system I think the actual US voting system itself is highly detrimental.

The Aussie system is weird, I grant you, but it works. Compulsory voting means that policy becomes far more important. 90-95% of people are going to vote and know they have to, so start paying attention in the campaign. The politicians have thousands of people demanding "why should I vote for you?" That has to be a good thing. The result then actually reflects the will of the people.

The US also really needs to sort out is the actual organisation and conduct of elections. Australia has an independent Electoral Commision that is responsible for drawing all election boundaries (no re-districting) and conducting all elections. All of them. So the ballot papers look very similar and are filled out the same way (pen and paper) nation wide. Not just for all candidates in a Federal election but for all Federal and State Elections. No hanging chads here - an established reliable consistent system.

I have focused on the Australian solutions to these problems becuase these are solutions I am faimilar with - there may well be others. But these are problems the US system needs to solve, in my humble opinion.

I should have made myself clear, I am American so I did not feel bad calling some of my fellow Americans lazy. I believe in voting, in having a voice. I hate it when I hear other Americans and some are within my own family, "it doesn't matter." It does matter. The world would be a different place if Gore had won and all those, "it doesn't matter" votes may have made this possible. The point is, there is always a choice, not a large choice, granted, two parties isn't ideal.

Yes, there should be more than one party, absolutely! I agree that I don't understand the American Freedom ideal either, I don't see the struggle to survive as many do in America as free. There may be a certain aspect of Free and to each his own, however, living outside America, many countries have more Freedom of Speech than America does, believe me.

I would love America to have compulsory voting. I think that electing who will influence your life is very important. Many Americans complain about minimum wage, from the abortion issue to the war, the struggle of the middle class and education, they have plenty to say on issues that affect them, but did they VOTE?

The only way to REFORM the system is to stop voting for the 2 main parties. These parties are so deep into the pockets of corportations that they will never fix the system.

If non voters are distrusting, then they should get off their butts and vote for an independant. If they do not delivery, kick them out and vote for another independant.

The Right to vote doesn't mean the Obligation to vote.

There's a crucial difference. Some people are just content that they have a right -- whether they use it or not.

How about a new law.. 'If you have not voted in the last 8 year, you lose the right to vote for the next 8 years' ..