Q: How many eligible voters are there in United States? How many are registered to vote? What is the greatest turnout for a U.S. presidential election as a percentage of eligible voters?
—Frank Manfre, Grayson
A: There are about 227 million eligible voters in the United States in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey in 2015.
Of those, 200 million are registered, Politico reported on Oct. 19, according to numbers provided by TargetSmart, a data firm.
Politico is a “global news and information company,” its website states.
The largest turnout (percentage) in U.S. history was in 1876, when 81.8 percent of the voting age population voted in the presidential election, according to The American Presidency Project, a non-partisan and non-profit at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
That election was controversial and resulted in Rutherford B. Hayes as president.
Q: There were recent AJC articles about the student in Columbus who lost his leg after being restrained by a contract employee. Neither story explains why the young man was being restrained. That is the information I was hoping to find out.
—Darryl Weaver, Atlanta
A: The Columbus Police Department report states only that Montravious Thomas had to be restrained "due to behavioral issues," the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported.
Thomas, a 13-year-old seventh-grader, had to have his right leg amputated below the knee after a behavioral specialist at the Edgewood Student Services Center allegedly slammed him to the floor on Sept. 12.
His leg was amputated by doctors at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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