Alaska 9th Best Voting Rate

I got an email for the Daily Beast about a report they've put up in which Alaska comes out in the Top Ten states for voter registration and participation.  Being in the top ten with just 61% participation doesn't say a whole lot.  But as I've pointed out  our numbers are misleading because they purge our old voter records so infrequently, we probably have a higher percentage than that.  A huge number of our voters have died or moved away.

Anyway, here's part of the Daily Beast story:

The results show that, when it comes to voting, there truly aren’t blue states or red states—just engaged states (where 70 percent of eligible voters exercise their rights) and those that don’t much care (where less than half do).

1, Minnesota
Average voter registration rate: 83.8
Average voter participation rate: 69.8
2, North Dakota
Average voter registration rate: 91.1
Average voter participation rate: 66.3
3, Maine
Average voter registration rate: 83.0
Average voter participation rate: 65.1
4, South Dakota
Average voter registration rate: 77.1
Average voter participation rate: 65.5
5, Wisconsin
Average voter registration rate: 80.8
Average voter participation rate: 62.9
6, Oregon
Average voter registration rate: 75.5
Average voter participation rate: 64.3
7, Montana
Average voter registration rate: 74.0
Average voter participation rate: 64.8
8, Massachusetts
Average voter registration rate: 74.2
Average voter participation rate: 61.7
9, Alaska
Average voter registration rate: 74.2
Average voter participation rate: 61.5

[UPDATE  11:45pm:   It's interesting that all the states in the top 15 are on the northern edge of the country.  Only Idaho, Washington, New York, and New Hampshire are missing from that northern tier. http://www.aa.org/subpage.cfm?page=37

Map from Alcoholics Anonymous