Voter Turnout in the US

The aftermath of the recent general election in the UK commanded many's attention and imagination. The voter turnout rate reached 65.1%, an increase comparing to 2005's 61.4%. Yet it is a dismay low turnout rate. In last three decades, the highest turnout rate there was in 1992 - 77.7%.

Yet, a 65.1% turnout rate would be a dramatic improvement in the US, whose voter turnout rate in 2008 presidential election in the US was only 56.8%, a supposedly big improvement over 2004, due to the excitement over the candidate Obama's appeal. Alas, it was an improvement from 2004's 55.3%. In 2006, the mid-term election had the turnout rate of 37.1% only.

Below is a chart shared by Wikipedia on the voting trends in a few major countries:



When people had to die in order to gain the right to vote, or risk of losing life in the polling station, here, in this "beacon of democracy", so many people don't bother to vote. Where