A state recently conducted an election featuring mail-in voting for the first time. Analyze the voter turnout data from the previous election, which did not feature mail-in voting and the data from the most recent election, which did.

Question

In-Person Election

Overall Turnout: 44%
Male Turnout: 40%
Female Turnout: 46%
Unemployed Turnout: 9%
Employed Turnout: 48%
Mail-In Election

Overall Turnout: 56%
Male Turnout: 51%
Female Turnout: 61%
Unemployed Turnout: 5%
Employed Turnout: 56%
What is a reasonable conclusion to draw from this data?

(1 point)
Responses

Turnout was not affected by voting method.
Turnout was not affected by voting method.

Mail-in voting increased turnout for unemployed voters.
Mail-in voting increased turnout for unemployed voters.

The in-person election had better turnout.
The in-person election had better turnout.

Mail-in voting increased turnout for employed voters.

Answer 1

The most reasonable conclusion to draw from the data is:

Turnout was not affected by voting method.

This conclusion is supported by the fact that overall turnout increased from 44% in the in-person election to 56% in the mail-in election, indicating that the introduction of mail-in voting had a positive impact on overall voter turnout. However, the turnout for unemployed voters decreased from 9% to 5%, which contradicts the notion that mail-in voting significantly increased turnout for that demographic.

While employed voters did see an increase in turnout from 48% to 56%, this alone does not imply a broad conclusion about the impact of mail-in voting since it was not uniformly beneficial across all groups. Thus, the overall finding suggests that while mail-in voting is associated with an increase in turnout, there is variability among different demographics, particularly the unemployed.

However, since none of the other statements accurately reflect the nuances of the data, the statement about turnout not being affected by the voting method is the most precise conclusion given the evidence.