Twice the trouble: Twinning and the cost of voting

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Olav Dahlgaard ◽  
Kasper M. Hansen
Keyword(s):  
The Cost ◽  
Cost Of Voting

Turnout

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Bendor ◽  
Daniel Diermeier ◽  
David A. Siegel ◽  
Michael M. Ting
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Comparative Statics ◽  
Electoral Participation ◽  
Basic Model ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Game Theoretic ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Cost Of Voting

This chapter focuses on voter participation, perhaps the most well-known anomaly for rational choice theory. The problem goes like this: in large electorates, the chance that any single voter will be pivotal is very small. Consequently, the cost of voting will outweigh the expected gains from turning out and few citizens will vote. This prediction is not consistent with some of the most easily observed facts about elections. The chapter introduces a basic model of electoral participation that focuses on voters’ turnout decisions under fixed candidate platforms. Contrary to the “paradox of turnout” raised by game-theoretic models of turnout, the model consistently generates realistically high levels of turnout. It also produces comparative statics, including those for voting cost, population size, and faction size, that are intuitive and empirically supported.

The Legal Context of Turnout

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan E. Leighley ◽  
Jonathan Nagler
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
State Level ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Election Administration ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
Electoral Impact ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Cost Of Voting

This chapter considers the electoral impact the new, wider array of voter registration and election administration laws using a new data set collected on state electoral rules between 1972 and 2008. States vary tremendously as to how easy it is to register and to vote, and previous research suggests that these laws affect who votes because they change the cost of voting. However, most of these studies rely on cross-sectional data, and usually consider the influence of one reform at a time. The chapter provides aggregate (state-level) analyses of the effects of changes in these rules on voter turnout. These analyses help us address the question of whether overall voter turnout has increased as a result of these legal changes. It finds modest effects of election day registration, of absentee voting, and of moving the closing date for registration closer to the election on overall turnout. The effect of early voting is less clear.

Rock the Vote or Block the Vote? How the Cost of Voting Affects the Voting Behavior of American Youth

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 719-724
Author(s):  
Courtney L. Juelich ◽  
Joseph A. Coll
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Population Survey ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Institutional Barriers ◽  
Young Voters ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Youth Voting ◽  
Cost Of Voting

Young voters make up the largest portion of the electorate but vote at the lowest rates of any age group. While scholars have studied how culture affects youth political participation, few studies have analyzed how institutional barriers affect youth voting—even though these laws have been found to affect turnout of other disadvantaged groups. Considering younger citizens are more likely to be non-habitual voters with less political knowledge, efficacy, and resources, it is possible that these laws have magnified effects for youths. This could explain why new voters, facing new restrictions to voting, are participating at lower percentages than youths of earlier cohorts. Using the 2004–2016 Current Population Survey ( N = 360,000) and the Cost of Voting Index to test the effects of restrictive electoral environments on youth turnout, we find that restrictive environments disproportionately hurt young voters by decreasing the probability they turn out by 16 percentage points, compared with older voters.

The cost of voting: Its fiscal impact on government

Public Choice ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 34 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
RobertE. McCormick ◽  
RichardB. McKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Fiscal Impact ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Cost Of Voting

scholarly journals Electoral Arrangements and Turnout Variance at the Sub-National Level: Comparative Insights from Three Constituencies in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Fortune Agbele
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
National Level ◽  
Individual Perceptions ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Cost Of Voting ◽  
Different Levels

Using micro-level data from three constituencies in Ghana, which are cases of high, average and low turnout respectively, I assess whether voters’ perceptions of the cost of voting (resource and time) can explain such variation in voter turnout. Results suggest that in Ghana, such individual perceptions of the cost associated with voting do not help in explaining variance in voter turnout at the constituency level: Across the different levels of turnout, there is little to no variance in voters’ perceptions. I find that the high positive perceptions of the electoral processes across high, average, and low turnout constituencies are not only due to the activities of the electoral management body but among others, the adjustments by citizens to the process based on their experiences from past elections.

Voter Turnout and City Performance: Evidence from Italian Municipalities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lo Prete ◽  
Federico Revelli
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Life Quality ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Mayoral Elections ◽  
Administrative Efficiency ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Bad Weather ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Cost Of Voting

Abstract Using data on mayoral elections in large Italian cities during the 2000s, we investigate whether and how voter turnout affects city performance across a number of dimensions. To address the issue of voter turnout endogeneity and identify the transmission mechanism, we exploit exogenous variation in participation rates in mayoral elections due to anticipated shocks (concurrence of local and national elections) and unanticipated shocks (bad weather on the day of the election) to the cost of voting. The results consistently point to a negative impact of voter turnout rates on indicators of urban environmental performance, life quality, and administrative efficiency. Interestingly, though, we find that only anticipated shocks to turnout affect the quality of elected mayors measured on a number of competence dimensions, compatibly with the hypothesis of a selection mechanism whereby parties choose candidates to maximize their chances of winning the elections based on their expectations on voter turnout rates (JEL D72, H72, C26).

Voting Lines, Equal Treatment, and Early Voting Check-In Times in Florida

2020 ◽  
pp. 153244002094388
Author(s):  
David Cottrell ◽  
Michael C. Herron ◽  
Daniel A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Problem ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Lower Probability ◽  
Ceteris Paribus ◽  
Administrative Records ◽  
Early Voting ◽  
Unequal Treatment ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Cost Of Voting

Lines at the polls raise the cost of voting and can precipitate unequal treatment of voters. Research on voting lines is nonetheless hampered by a fundamental measurement problem: little is known about the distribution of time voters spend in line prior to casting ballots. We argue that early, in-person voter check-in times allow us identify individuals who waited in line to vote. Drawing on election administrative records from two General Elections in Florida—1,031,179 check-ins from 2012 and 1,846,845 from 2016—we find that minority voters incurred disproportionately long wait times in 2012 and that in-person voters who waited excessively in 2012 had a slightly lower probability—approximately one percent—of turning out to vote in 2016, ceteris paribus. These individuals also had slightly lower turnout probabilities in the 2014 Midterm Election, ceteris paribus. Our results draw attention to the ongoing importance of the administrative features of elections that influence the cost of voting and ultimately the extent to which voters are treated equally.

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