The bad citizen? Framing non-voting on Twitter during the 2020 U.S. election

Although voting is considered a cornerstone of democratic citizenship, the U.S. has grappled with low voter turnouts for over a century. We examine America’s “non-voters problem” by adopting a mixed methods behavioral approach to analyze nonvoting discourses on Twitter during the 2020 U.S. election. Our findings suggest that tweets about nonvoting from self-proclaimed voters as well as eligible and ineligible non-voters reflect distinct citizenship norms and sense-making approaches to election nonparticipation. This research underscores social media’s role as an outlet for those who are unable or unwilling to express their political opinions through conventional civic channels.