What is good voter turnout, anyways?

Early reports indicated the recent U.S. Presidential Election's turnout rate was an astoundingly high 63-64%. That would have put it the highest voter turnout in U.S. history.

However, the United States Elections project yesterday gave an updated estimated turnout of 61.2% As the report notes, this is higher than the 2004 Bush-Kerry election rate of 60.1%, but lower than the 1968 record 62.5% that gave Richard Nixon his first term.

Regardless of the figure, ever since the U.S. election Canadian pundantry has been belly-aching about our recent record low voter turnout, wondering if we could use a dynamic young leader to shake things up. [sorry Justin Trudeau, they also implied he can't be a white guy -ed] So everybody got that? The U.S.'s 61.2% is awesome, and our measely turnout is pathetic.

So what was our turnout, anyways? Answer: 59.1%

Hey, waitaminute here. That's only a 2% difference. Remember that the Bush-Kerry vote was only 60.1%, and that didn't go through any soul-searching with the Yanks about low turnout. (Well, technically yes, several lefties bemoaned that more people didn't go out to vote... for Kerry)

Can we officially ix-nay this whole discussion about voter turnout? Especially since voting in Canada costs you tax money: $1.95 goes to the party that you voted for. If you don't like any of them, voting would benefit a party you don't support.