Healthy Development Measurement Toolkit

Indicator SC.2.a Voting rates

Data Source

Voting data from City and County of San Francisco, Department of Elections.

Map and table prepared by City and County of San Francisco, Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Section using ArcGIS software.

Map data is presented at the level of the census tract. The map also includes planning neighborhood names, in the vicinity of their corresponding census tracts.

Table data is presented by planning neighborhood. Planning neighborhoods are larger geographic areas then census tracts. SF DPH used ArcGIS software and a 'centroids within' methodology to convert census tracts to geographic mean center points. We then assigned census tracts to planning neighborhoods based on the spatial location of those geographic mean center points and calculated the planning neighborhood totals for the table.

Detailed information regarding census data, geographic units of analysis, their definitions, and their boundaries can be found in the HDMT at the following links:

http://www.thehdmt.org/etc/Geographic_Units_of_Analysis.pdf

http://www.thehdmt.org/data_map_methods.php

Explanation and Limitations

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of stagnant or decreasing voter turnout in many established democracies. Its cause has been attributed to a wide array of economic, demographic, cultural, technological, and institutional factors.

The San Francisco Department of Elections is responsible for conducting all federal, state and local elections in the City and County of San Francisco. Serving a registered voter base of more than 450,000 citizens, the Department of Election manages approximately 560 polling places and more than 3,000 temporary pollworkers during each election. Voters can vote by Absentee ballot or at the polls. Currently, the Department of Elections uses optical scan voting machines, which scan ballots at the polls and at the Department's processing center in its offices in City Hall.

In order to qualify as a registered voter in San Francisco:

• You must be a citizen of the United States

• You must be a resident of San Francisco

• You must be at least 18 years of age or older on or before the next election

• You must NOT be in prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony

• You must not have been judged by a court to be mentally incompetent to register and vote

San Francisco has a number of progressive policies to encourage voter turnout, including early voting, absentee voting, and allowing others to return absentee ballots for a voter. In addition, ranked-choice voting (also known as instant runoff voting) was passed by the voters as an amendment to the City Charter in March of 2002. Ranked-choice voting allows San Francisco voters to rank up to three candidates for the same office. In a plurality election, the highest vote getter wins even if s/he receives less than 50% of the vote. In a ranked choice voting, two candidates advance to a runoff if no candidate receives more than 50% in the first round.

Voter turnout in the November 2008 election cycle, which included the United States presidential election, was higher than anytime in the previous forty years.  According to Census research by Pew Research Center, the electorate in the 2008 presidential election was the most racially and ethnically diverse in U.S. history, with nearly one-in-four votes cast by non-whites.  The unprecedented diversity of the electorate last year was driven by increases both in the number and in the turnout rates of minority eligible voters. Accessed on September 22, 2009: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1209/racial-ethnic-voters-presidential-election

In general, voter turnout for city, county and state elections on non-presidential election years tends to be lower than turnout for presidential elections.  Many interrelated factors impact whether individuals register to vote and participate in elections including: educational attainment, gender, income/class, race/ethnicity, family history of voting, age, language spoken, literacy, trust in government, historical denial of the right to vote, access to transportation and childcare,  get-out-the-vote mobilization efforts, awareness of candidate and ballot initiatives, clarity (or lack of) ballot initiative language, etc.  As described above, individuals without U.S. citizenship, under 18 years of age, and/or currently incarcerated or on parole are denied the right to vote in San Francisco.

Why is this a Community Health Indicator?

People involved in electoral participation were 22% less likely to report poor/fair health.^a In a study about neighborhood environment, if political engagement was low, people had 52% higher odds of reporting poor health.^b