THE SOUTH'S SURGE IN VOTER TURNOUT

You've probably heard that, despite all the pre-election hype, voter turnout in 2008 turned out to be a bust. What was supposed to be a "historic election" ended up being a case study in voters shirking their civic duty and staying home from the polls.

That may have been true for much of the country -- but not for the South. At a time when Southerners are being told they are increasingly irrelevant to national politics, it turns out Southern voters were actually a model for the nation in civic engagement.

In fact, voter turnout surged across the South. According to Michael McDonald's updated data at the United States Election Project, 10 out of 13 Southern states saw a boost in turnout between 2004 and 2008, thanks especially to increases among African-American and young voters.

Even more striking, out of the 10 states with the biggest increases in turnout between 2004 and 2008, six were in the South. North Carolina's 8-point increase was over five times the meager national increase of 1.5 points.

Here are the state-by-state rankings:

STATES WITH BIGGEST INCREASE IN VOTER TURNOUT, 2004-2008

1 - North Carolina - +8%
2 - Virginia - +6.8%
3 - District of Columbia - +6.6%
4 - Mississippi - +5.6%
4 - South Carolina - +5.6%
6 - Georgia - +4.9%
6 - Maryland - +4.9%
8 - Alabama - +4.6%
9 - Indiana - +4.5%
10 - Rhode Island - +3.6%
National Average - +1.5%

Perhaps the rest of the country could learn something from the South.

(Photo of early voters in Dallas by scry)