OK, it’s time to just come right out and say it: when it comes to voting, we suck.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an organization of 35 highly developed democratic nations, the United States ranks 31^st in voter turnout among such nations, with about 53% of voting-age Americans having voted in the last presidential election. Compare that to voting turnout leaders Belgium, Turkey and Sweden, who see rates of turnout in the mid-80’s. (To be fair, both Belgium and Turkey have compulsory voting requirements, but Sweden and almost all of the countries who enjoy better turnout than the US have no voting requirement.)

And it’s not like this is a new thing. Since 1980, turnout in the US has stayed within a 9-point range, from a low of 48% in 1996 to a high of 57% in 2008.  Meanwhile, other countries have seen great volatility of voter turnout, including countries as politically stable as England (range of 75%-54%) and as volatile as Greece (86%-62%).

Some countries try to encourage turnout by automatically registering voters as soon as they become eligible. With mixed results. Canada, which has a 91% registration rate of its citizens, sees a higher voter turnout than the US, while Japan, which has an astounding 99% registration rate, has a lower voter turnout rate than we do.

And things may not improve here in the US any time soon, as Millennials have proven to be unengaged politically…but wait…maybe Bernie Sanders has gotten them fired up…or not…they are disappointed in having Hillary as the candidate they might just stay home…which means, of course, that Blacks and Hispanics will have to turn out to help her, by voting numerous times as Dead People…which is completely un-American, of course…so White Deplorables will need to police the voting stations to stop any fraud….Evangelicals, as always, will show up by the busload…which may not make much of a difference, as the whole thing is rigged anyway…

A couple more weeks to go.  Maybe we can crack 60%.

Meh.