A new report suggests unmarried women may be a critical swing vote in Michigan’s elections this fall.
The Voter Participation Center works to get more unmarried women, people of color, and young people to vote. But those groups tend to show the biggest voting dropoff in off-year elections.
Those also happen to be the voters Democrats need to win in this fall’s gubernatorial and congressional elections.
Page Gardner is the president of the Voter Participation Center. She says candidates who want to boost voter turnout among unmarried women should focus on issues like raising the minimum wage and wage equality.
“One of the reasons why they should be hitting these issues right now, and throughout the campaign, is so there is a sense among voters that they are hearing their concerns," says Gardner.
Gardner says unless they are courted by candidates, about 500,000 Michiganders who voted in 2012 could stay home on Election Day this year. More than half of them are unmarried women.
