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The right to vote is arguably one of the most important rights of citizenship in a democratic country, yet a substantial number of U.S. citizens choose not to exercise this right. In the election of November 2000, 111 million people voted. Thus, the voting rates for the population 18 and older were 55 percent of the total population, 60 percent of the citizen population, and 86 percent of the registered population.
In 2002 a record number of people for a nonpresidential election, 128 million, registered to vote in the 2002 congressional elections. Another record number, 89 million, reported they voted in the elections. Among registered nonvoters in 2002, about 27 percent reported they did not vote because they were too busy or had conflicting work or school schedules.
Although men historically have voted at higher rates than women, women's rates surpassed those of men in the entire 18 and older population for the first time in the Presidential election of 1984. This trend coincides with a number of social changes for women over the past few decades. Educational attainment and the labor force participation rate, both strong correlates of voting, have risen significantly among women. Together these trends point to significant levels of political involvement of women including voting behavior.
The voting rate is much higher among older age groups than younger age groups. The peak age group for voting participation is 65 to 74 years, where 72 percent of citizens voted in the 2000 election. The lowest voting rate (36 percent) is for the 18- to 24-year-old citizens, who were half as likely to vote as people 65 to 74 years. A key difference between these two groups is registration—while 79 percent of older citizens were registered, 51 percent of younger citizens were registered. Young adults, especially people in their twenties, are the most transient and must re-register after each move, possibly leading to lower registration levels.
Marital status is also associated with voting patterns. Married individuals (67 percent) are more likely to vote than widowed (59 percent), divorced (54 percent), separated (46 percent), and never-married individuals (44 percent). Separated and never-married individuals are generally younger, which also influences their voting patterns.
The number of seats a state can have in the United States House of Representatives is based on the number of people who live in the state.
Apportionment is the process of dividing the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the 50 states. The Census Bureau's role in apportionment is to conduct the census every 10 years (decennial census) as mandated by the Constitution. An apportionment has been made on the basis of each decennial census from 1790 to 2000, except following the 1920 census. Apportionment does not affect Puerto Rico.
Shifts in congressional representation reflect regional trends in population. The regional patterns of change in congressional representation between 1990 and 2000 reflect the Nation's continuing shift in population from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and the West.
Based on the Census 2000 apportionment, the net increase of five seats in the South reflected a gain of seven seats in four states and a loss of two seats, one each in Mississippi and Oklahoma. The West gained five seats and lost none; the Northeast and Midwest each lost five seats and gained none.
The federal government spent $1.9 trillion in the states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and outlying areas during 2002, representing an 8 percent increase over 2001.
For the year 2002, more than half of federal aid to state and local governments (56.4 percent) went toward health and human services. The least amount went to agriculture (5.9 percent).
One-third of all federal expenditures went to people living in five states, which accounted for 36% of the total U.S. population. Californians benefited the most, receiving $206 billion, followed by the people of New York ($129 billion), Texas ($123 billion), Florida ($105 billion), and Pennsylvania ($86 billion).
In 2002, there were 87,525 local governments in the nation. State and local governments employed 15.4 million full-time equivalent (FTE) workers in 2001, a 2 percent increase over 2000. Of that total, local governments reported 11.2 million full-time equivalent employees and state governments employed 4.2 million.
The tabulations from the 2001 Annual Survey of State and Local Government Employment and Payroll show that most full-time equivalent employees worked in education (8 million), hospitals (922,000) and police protection (885,000). Other employment categories covered were corrections, streets and highways, public welfare, health, judicial-legal, financial administration and fire protection.
The 2002 Census of Governments was the first to ask questions about e-government. It was reported that nearly one-third of local governments, which included school districts, had an official Internet site and offered information and services online.
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