Participation in a Democracy

Page 215 of the Textbook talks about how although the USA is technically a Democracy, voter turnout for presidential elections hovers around 50% in recent elections. This means that the president of the USA is sometimes elected by less than half the population - which is a poor measure of democracy, where the elected representatives are supposed to be "by the people" and not "by about half the people" :-) For instance, the 1996 election in which Bill Clinton was elected president saw a voter turnout of only 49%.

I believe that voter turnout in Australia is often higher than 90% because the country has a policy of compulsory voting - the voter who does not have a legitimate reason for not casting a ballot may be fined or imprisoned! That is a fine incentive to vote :-)