Compulsory voting and electoral turnout

2009 ◽  
pp. 79-97
Author(s):  
Sarah Birch
Keyword(s):  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
Electoral Turnout

Electoral Engineering and Cross-National Turnout Differences: What Role for Compulsory Voting?

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK N. FRANKLIN
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Voting Turnout ◽  
Institutional Data ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
Electoral Turnout ◽  
Cross National

Low electoral turnout is often considered to be bad for democracy, whether inherently or because it calls legitimacy into question or because low turnout implies lack of representation of certain groups and inegalitarian policies. Yet there would appear to be a straightforward cure for low turnout: make voting compulsory. Of the twenty-five countries in the International Almanac of Electoral History for which Katz has collected institutional data, four have compulsory voting. Turnout in these countries averages 89 per cent, as compared to 75 per cent in the other twenty-one countries.

scholarly journals What Affects Voter Turnout? A Review Article/Meta-Analysis of Aggregate Research

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 698-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Stockemer
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
Behavioural Research ◽  
Strong Consensus ◽  
Electoral Turnout ◽  
Number Of Parties

For more than 40 years, studies trying to explain macro-level electoral turnout have been one of the pillars of political behavioural research. From January 2004 to December 2013 alone, more than 130 articles were published in peer-reviewed journals using turnout at the national, regional or local level as the dependent variable. This meta-analysis tries to synthesize the results of these studies. I find there is a strong consensus in the literature that turnout is higher under compulsory voting, if the election is important, and if it is held in a small country. I also find that the influence of most other predictor variables, including the type of electoral system, the number of parties, development, income inequalities and electoral closeness is inconclusive at best. These results hint at the fact that the determinants of turnout might be more complex than the current theory suggests and is rather more context dependent.

scholarly journals Voter Turnout

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Blais ◽  
Eva Anduiza
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
Electoral Turnout ◽  
Over Time

Participating in elections is an essential component of democracy: citizens in democratic political systems are expected to be able to vote and to choose their representatives. Through their vote, either directly in presidential elections or indirectly in parliamentary elections, citizens also select among competing government alternatives. Turnout is thus a central topic in politics. Although turnout is the most widespread form of political participation, many people do not vote. Moreover, turnout varies substantially over time and across types of elections within a country as well as across countries. Who votes and under what conditions people are more likely to turn out are central questions in this literature. Explanations for turnout variation have focused both on individual characteristics (such as age, education, or political attitudes) and contextual features (such as the effect of compulsory voting, electoral systems, or party competition). Far less research has been devoted to the consequences of electoral turnout.

Remedying Diploma Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Bovens ◽  
Anchrit Wille
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Political Skills ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
European Unification ◽  
Nationalist Parties

How can we remedy some of the negative effects of diploma democracy? First, we discuss the rise of nationalist parties. They have forced the mainstream political parties to pay more attention to the negative effects of immigration, globalization, and European unification. Next we discuss strategies to mitigate the dominance of the well-educated in politics. We start with remedies that address differences in political skills and knowledge. Then we discuss the deliberative arenas. Many democratic reforms contain an implicit bias towards the well-educated. A more realistic citizenship model is required. This can be achieved by bringing the ballot back in, for example, by merging deliberative and more direct forms of democracy through deliberative polling, corrective referendums, and more compulsory voting. The chapter ends with a discussion of ways to make the political elites more inclusive and responsive, such as descriptive representation, sortition, and plebiscitary elements.

Who Voted? The Dynamics of Electoral Turnout, 1870-1980

1983 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 644
Author(s):  
Allan J. Lichtman ◽  
Paul Kleppner
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Turnout

Gender Gaps in Electoral Turnout: Surveys versus Administrative Censuses

2021 ◽  
pp. 147892992110195
Author(s):  
Paulo Cox ◽  
Mauricio Morales Quiroga
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Electoral Participation ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
Electoral Turnout ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Official Data ◽  
Rule Out

Gender gaps in voter turnout are usually studied using opinion surveys rather than official census data. This is because administrative censuses usually do not disaggregate turnout according to voters’ sex. Without this official information, much of the research on gender gaps in electoral turnout relies on survey respondents’ self-reported behavior, either before or after an election. The decision to use survey data implies facing several potential drawbacks. Among them are the turnout overstatement bias and the attrition or nonresponse bias, both affecting the estimation of factors explaining turnout and any related statistical analysis. Furthermore, these biases may be correlated with covariates such as gender: men, more than women, may systematically overstate their electoral participation. We analyze turnout gender gaps in Chile, comparing national surveys with official administrative data, which in Chile are publicly available. Crucially, the latter includes the official record of sex, age, and the electoral behavior—whether the individual voted or not—for about 14 million registered individuals. Based on a series of statistical models, we find that analysis based on survey data is likely to rule out gender gaps in electoral participation. Carrying out the same exercises, but with official data, leads to the opposite conclusion, namely, that there is a sizable gender gap favoring women.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document