Voters and turnout

From 1995 to 2015, the number of eligible voters in Lower Austria has increased about 19 percent or 240,000 people. In the same period the number of actual voters did only rise about 4 percent or 35,000.

While the electorate has grown in 521 out of 566 towns, the absolute number of votes cast in 2015 was acutally lower in 198 towns than in 1995.

Lower Austria is dominated by small municipalities. Only 11 towns have an electorate larger than 12,000 people, only 4 exceed 20,000*. Divided into its four main regions, the declining turnout is visible in each one of them. Small increases can only be found in towns with less than 2,500 eligible voters.
*These 11 towns are excluded from the following plots and shown separately below. There are also four so called Statuarstaedte which follow a different election calendar, therefore they are not included.

The turnout in the larger towns was also lower than 20 years ago. While the electorate has grown in all of those municipalities, the absolute number of votes cast in 2015 was actually lower in 8 out of the 11 displayed towns. The chart below compares the changes in turnout, eligible voters and votes cast in percent.