Core Indicators Report
Executive Summary
Healthy Community Initiative
Community Indicators
Project Health Strategies, Inc.
John R. Hagen, Ph.D.
August 1999

Community Capacity Focus:

Commitment to Local Community Indicators:
Adults registered to vote
Adults registered who voted

Rationale
In general, people who register care about what happens in their community and nation. A higher percentage of eligible voters who are registered is thought to indicate a higher interest of the population in governance. The actual number of registered voters who vote or "turn-out" provides a measure of the overall interests in government actions on voting day.

Historically, the percentage of people actually voting is less than the number of people registered to vote, which is less than the number of people eligible to vote. If outcome measures are to identify meaningful behaviors, both the percentage of people who believe it important to register and the percentage who believe it also important to vote need to be looked at together.

Data Analysis

In the 1990s, St. Joseph County has had a smaller percentage of adult registered voters than the rest of the State. For the five election years, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1998, the County had registered, on average, 73.1 percent of adults compared to the State's rate of 77.4 percent. This represented a statistically significant difference (p < .05) and indicated that the County was achieving a registration rate of only 94 percent of the rest of Indiana.

Of those registered, however, a slightly higher proportion voted in St. Joseph County compared to the rest of the State. Over the four general election periods taken as a whole, the County voted at a rate of 62.5 percent compared to rate in the rest of the State of 62.2. The difference was just barely significant.

The ratio between the percentage of people who believe it important to vote and the percentage who believe it important to register was higher in the rest of Indiana compared to St. Joseph County. For the five voting periods, the ratio was 0.52 for the County compared to the 0.54 for the rest of the State. In short, a larger ratio for the rest of the State would indicate a higher level of community involvement.

The interpretation of voter registration and turn-out rates as related to commitment to community can only be argued generally and with attention to political issues current to a given voting cycle and perceived importance of a given election based at least on whether or not it is a presidential election. In the 1998 primary election, for example, St. Joseph County residents voted at a significantly lower rate than the rest of the State. Only 15.1 percent of registered voters turned out in St. Joseph County compared to 24 percent for all other Hoosier residents.

Overview • Community Capacity •Economic Vitality • Health • Quality of Life

Community Capacity
Indicators

"In general, people who register (to vote) care about what happens in their community and nation. A higher percentage of eligible voters who are registered is thought to indicate a higher interest of the population in governance. "

John R. Hagen, Ph.D.
Executive Summary
August 1999

• Community Capacity
• Economic Vitality
• Health, and
• Quality of Life