14 Dec 2016 12:56 pm
That's what happens when you give people a choice between being shot or being poisoned.1.7 million people in 33 states and D.C. cast a ballot without voting in the presidential race
In every election, there are people who go to the polls to cast a ballot but who don't vote in every race. Usually, those "undervotes," as they're called, happen down-ballot, resulting in fewer votes for, say, county commissioner than, say, president of the United States.
But in every election there are also people who skip the presidential ballot for whatever reason. It happens.
With 2016 pitting two historically unpopular candidates against one another, we were curious about the extent to which undervoting occurred in the marquee contest this year.
We found some evidence that it was occurring a few weeks ago, but set out to tally the undervote more deliberately, pulling in data from every state to figure out how many people skipped the top of the ticket.
In only three states was the undervote percentage down. In states where it was up, it was up by an average of 2.5 times as much as in 2012.
