A Bipartisan Election Reform? Explaining Support for Online Voter Registration in the American States

Previous research on political participation typically has centered upon voter turnout, modeling it as a function of socio-demographic and structural factors separately and in conjunction. Using aggregate-level data covering the 1980s, this paper updates and extends previous political participation research in the specific regard of voter registration. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between a state’s voter registration level and its degree of interparty competition. An index of interparty competition for the 1980-1989 period — based upon the Ranney index first employed for the 1948-1960 period and later extended by Bibby et al. to 1974-1980 — is presented here for the first time. However, interparty competition and several other demographic and structural factors that traditionally are cited as contributors to voter turnout are found here to be insignificant for predicting voter registration levels. A socio-demographic factor, racial composition, and a structural factor, the closing date for registration, emerge as the most important predictors of aggregate registration level.

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Conclusion

Accessible Elections ◽

10.1093/oso/9780197537251.003.0008 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 137-143

Author(s):

Michael Ritter

Keyword(s):

Solid State ◽

Voter Turnout ◽

Voter Registration ◽

Future Research ◽

Early Voting ◽

Election Administration ◽

Election Reform ◽

Low Educated ◽

Racial Ethnic ◽

Voting Laws

Chapter 8 reviews the main findings of the book and identifies areas for future research. The general findings indicate that each of the state convenience voting laws (in-person early voting, no-excuse absentee/mail voting, and same day registration) as well solid state election administration can improve voter turnout and promote greater voting equality between the socio-economic classes and among non-Hispanic whites and racial/ethnic minorities. The study demonstrates the value of an advanced causal inference design applied to a rich dataset on American adults (national voter files). It highlights the importance of measuring the effects of multiple convenience voting laws and election administration simultaneously. Future applications of the accessible voting framework can be used to understand the impacts of new election reform laws such as automatic voter registration, and to evaluate whether these factors also promote higher turnout among other historically marginalized voting groups such as the young and low-educated.

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Framing Automatic Voter Registration: Partisanship and Public Understanding of Automatic Voter Registration

American Politics Research ◽

10.1177/1532673x20922525 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 48 (6) ◽

pp. 693-699

Author(s):

Christopher B. Mann ◽

Paul Gronke ◽

Natalie Adona

Keyword(s):

The United States ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Voter Registration ◽

Survey Experiment ◽

Partisan Polarization ◽

Election Reform ◽

Recent Innovation ◽

Party Elites ◽

Voter Fraud ◽

Source Cues

Automatic voter registration (AVR) is a recent innovation in voter registration in the United States, passed by 18 states plus DC in the last 4 years. AVR has generally escaped partisan polarization about election reform, having passed in Republican and Democratic controlled states. Using a survey experiment in the 2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we investigate effects of source cues about support of AVR from different party elites and from election administrators on the public’s expectations about AVR’s impact on turnout, voter fraud, fairness, and election problems. Our experimental results show an asymmetric partisan effect. When AVR is endorsed by Democratic leaders, Republicans (and independents) expect AVR to reduce the fairness and legitimacy of elections, while Democrats are generally resistant to partisan cues.

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Democracy in the States: Experiments in Election Reform. Edited by Bruce E. Cain, Todd Donovan, and Caroline J. Tolbert. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2008. 256p. $62.95 paper, $26.95 cloth. - The Way We Vote: The Local Dimension of American Suffrage. By Alec C. Ewald. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2009. 256p. $69.95 cloth, $29.95 paper. - Discount Voting: Voter Registration Reforms and Their Effects. By Michael J. Hanmer. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 264p. $79.00.

Perspectives on Politics ◽

10.1017/s1537592710002641 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 1230-1232

Author(s):

Edward M. Burmila

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Voter Registration ◽

Washington Dc ◽

Local Dimension ◽

Brookings Institution ◽

Cambridge University ◽

Election Reform ◽

Vanderbilt University ◽

The Way

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Courting the Youth Vote in 2008: The Obama Effect

Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal ◽

10.15695/vurj.v5i0.2814 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

Author(s):

Lindsey C Bohl

Keyword(s):

Presidential Elections ◽

Voter Registration ◽

The Internet ◽

The Past ◽

Several Variables ◽

High Turnout ◽

Short And Long Term ◽

Use Of The Internet ◽

Youth Vote

This paper examines a few of the numerous factors that may have led to increased youth turnout in 2008 Election. First, theories of voter behavior and turnout are related to courting the youth vote. Several variables that are perceived to affect youth turnout such as party polarization, perceived candidate difference, voter registration, effective campaigning and mobilization, and use of the Internet, are examined. Over the past 40 years, presidential elections have failed to engage the majority of young citizens (ages 18-29) to the point that they became inclined to participate. This trend began to reverse starting in 2000 Election and the youth turnout reached its peak in 2008. While both short and long-term factors played a significant role in recent elections, high turnout among youth voters in 2008 can be largely attributed to the Obama candidacy and campaign, which mobilized young citizens in unprecedented ways.

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