2
election were intense, they were not distributed equally across all fifty states (McDonald
2004). Figure 2 shows that a few states (Colorado, Montana, and Oklahoma) saw major
declines in registration between 2000 and 2004, while most saw increases and several
battleground states (including Missouri, Florida, Nevada, and New Mexico) saw
significant increases in the proportions of the voting age population registered to vote.
Figure 2 about here
Even in those battleground states, there are limits to the effects that registration
increases can have on turnout rates. Registration obviously places an upper limit on
turnout (Jackson, Brown, and Wright 1998), in that turnout cannot exceed the proportion
of citizens registered to vote. Although cross-national research has suggested that
registration requirements might be one of the key reasons why turnout in the U.S. is
lower than in other democracies (Mitchell and Wlezien 1995; Powell 1986; but see
Franklin 1996 and Franklin 2004) and some research on the U.S. states has shown that
registration and turnout are closely related (Jackson, Brown, and Wright 1998; Hill
2003), it is also the case that many newly registered people never make it to the polls
(Knack 1999; Martinez and Hill 1999; Highton 2004).
Registration is a necessary step in entering the pool of potential voters in most
states, but some new registrants never make it past that first step. Short term variations in
turnout are the result of election specific factors, including mobilization efforts on the
part of campaigns. For instance, competitive races generate greater interest among the
population (Bullock, Gaddie, and Ferrington 2002; Cox and Munger 1989; Jackson 1997)
and thus stimulate turnout. Close elections also stimulate the candidate and party
organizations to expend resources in their efforts to win, and as a result of the greater
Convention