Driving turnout: the effect of car ownership on electoral participation

Inequalities in voter participation between groups of the population pose a problem for democratic representation. We use administrative data on 6.7 million registered voters to show that a previously-ignored characteristic of voters—access to a personal automobile—creates large disparities in in-person voting rates. Lack of access to a car depresses election day voter turnout by substantively large amounts across a variety of fixed-effects models that account for other environmental and voter characteristics. Car access creates the largest hindrance to voting for those people who live farther from the polls. These effects do not appear for absentee voting, suggesting a simple policy solution to solve large disparities in political participation. This study contributes to the theoretic understanding of political participation as well as the impact of potential policy reforms to solve participatory gaps.

Gender and Elections

The fifth edition of Gender and Elections offers a lively, multi-faceted account of the role of gender in the electoral process through the 2020 elections. This timely yet enduring volume strikes a balance between highlighting the most important developments for women as voters and candidates in the 2020 elections and providing an in-depth analysis of the ways that gender has helped shape the contours and outcomes of electoral politics in the United States. Individual chapters demonstrate the importance of gender in understanding presidential, congressional, and state elections; voter participation, turnout, and choices; participation of African American women and Latinas; support of political parties and women's organizations; and candidate communication. New chapters explore the role of social movements in elections and introduce concepts of gendered and raced institutions, intersectionality, and identity politics applied to presidential elections from past to present. The resulting volume is the most comprehensive and reliable resource on the role of gender in electoral politics.

Perilaku pemilih pada pemilihan umum kepala daerah Kota Tangerang Selatan dalam masa pandemi covid-19

This study aims to analyze the real condition of voter behavior in the South Tangerang City Regional Head Election during the Covid-19 pandemic, and identify factors that influence voter behavior in the South Tangerang City Regional Head Election during the Covid-19 pandemic. This research is a descriptive qualitative research. The research subjects were community members in the Benda Baru area, Pamulang District. Data collection is done by interview, observation, and documentation. The results of the study concluded that; 1) Voter participation in the 2020 regional head election in the Benda Baru Pamulang area was 18,982 people or reached 61 percent and 12,132 people did not exercise their right to vote, or 39 percent, of the total number of people voting as many as 31,114 people. Meanwhile, the behavior of voters in determining their political rights is still dominated by figures and money politics. 2) Citizens' concerns about life safety due to the transmission of the covid-19 outbreak which is the main factor in the decline in public participation in exercising their right to vote in elections to regions in the Benda Baru Pamulang area, South Tangerang City. Abstrak Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kondisi riil perilaku pemilih pada pemilihan umum kepala daerah Kota Tangerang Selatan dalam masa pandemi Covid-19, dan mengidentifikasi faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi perilaku pemilih pada Pemilihan Umum Kepala Daerah Kota Tangerang Selatan dalam masa pandemi Covid-19. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kualitatif deskriptif. Subjek penelitian adalah warga masyarakat di wilayah Benda Baru Kecamatan Pamulang. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan wawancara, observasi, dan dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian disimpulkan bahwa; 1) Partisipasi pemilih pada ajang pemilihan kepala daerah tahun 2020 di wilayah Benda Baru Pamulang sebanyak 18.982 jiwa atau mencapai 61 persen dan yang tidak menggunakan hak pilih sebanyak 12.132 atau mencapai 39 persen, dari total jumlah jiwa pilih sebanyak 31.114 jiwa pilih. Sementara perilaku pemilih dalam menentukan hak politiknya masih didominasi oleh sosok figur dan politik uang (money politics). 2) Kekhawatiran warga akan keselamatan jiwa akibat penularan wabah covid-19 yang menjadi faktor utama menurunnya partisipasi masyarakat dalam menggunakan hak pilih pada pemilihan kepada daerah di wilayah Benda Baru Pamulang Kota Tangerang Selatan.

Well-Being as Human Development, Equality, Happiness and the Role of Freedom, Activism, Decentralization, Volunteerism and Voter Participation: A Global Country-Level Study

We propose and test a new model for predicting multiple quantitative measures of well-being globally at the country level based on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), income inequality (Net Gini), and National Happiness Index (NHI; U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network world survey of life satisfaction). HDI consists of per-capita Gross National Income (economic well-being), average life expectancy (proxy for health well-being), and educational attainment (capabilities well-being). Using data on 105 countries representing 95% of the world’s population, a history of grassroots activism (Global Non-violent Action Database), civil liberties and political rights (Freedom Score), political and fiscal decentralization, and voter participation (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) correlate with HDI and NHI. Citizen volunteering (Gallup Civic Engagement Index) predicts only NHI. In multivariate analyses, Freedom Score is the most robust predictor of all well-being measures, including income equality. Fiscal decentralization and voter turnout also predict HDI and NHI, controlling for other influences. Based on prior analyses in the Global Development of Applied Community Studies project, implications and recommendations are discussed for developing community human research and professional resources across 12 disciplines in countries where they are needed based on social justice, citizenship, well-being, inequality, human rights, and other development challenges. We recommend individual and community-level and qualitative analyses of the above predictors’ relationships with these same conceptualizations of well-being, as well as consideration of other social, cultural and political variables and their effect on well-being.

Dynamics of Simultaneous Local Elections in 2020 During Covid-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is difficult to ignore the possibility of conflict in the Simultaneous Regional Head Elections; in fact, it tends to grow. Fundamentally, conflicts arise as a result of lack of planning and implementation of Electoral Management Bodies, confusing regulations, overlapping responsibilities and multiple interpretations of laws, and inability to deal with technical electoral issues. This study aims to examine the dynamics of holding the 2020 Simultaneous Regional Head Elections in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study employs a qualitative design with a descriptive approach. Data collection was carried out using literature review techniques from several related journal sources. According to the results of the study with the Concept of Conflict Resolution, the potential conflicts that emerged in the 2020 simultaneous regional elections, including the existence of money politics disguised as assistance for overcoming COVID-19, low voter participation due to public fear of the transmission of the COVID-19 virus, and weak technical elections management which resulted in the need for re-voting in several regions in Indonesia. Therefore, it can be conluded that Conflict resolution to eliminate money politics culture can be done by conducting political education which must be started from political parties. Meanwhile, to minimize re-voting, Electoral Management Bodies must prepare overall technical management well from planning, organizing, implementing to evaluating the entire process of organizing the election.

The Consequences of Compulsory Voting

This chapter reviews the growing literature on compulsory voting’s consequences. Compulsory voting has an unsurprising upward impact on voter participation, which lessens the impact of many socioeconomic and demographic forerunners of turnout, thereby making the composition of the voting population better reflect the distribution of eligible voters. Further, invalid balloting tends to be more common under compulsory voting. Compelled voters are also less likely to cast ballots that correspond with their preferences. Many studies indicate that mandatory voting has an educative effect and can socialize people into political engagement, with others casting strong doubt on this possibility. A small number of studies have assessed whether compulsory voting shapes attitudes, election outcomes, the behavior of political parties, policy characteristics, and income growth and inequality, with few clear patterns yet established. Compulsory voting laws have the greatest impact where sanctions for abstention are enforced and meaningful.

Vote Centers and the Voter Experience

The scholarship regarding vote centers primarily focuses on their impact on voter turnout. Though previous literature suggests modest and conditional increases in voter participation, the mechanism by which vote centers increase participation is less understood. One suggested mechanism is that they provide voters a better experience at the polling place. In this article, we investigate whether voters who cast their ballot at vote centers have a better experience than those who vote at traditional precinct polling places. Utilizing a unique dataset collected from exit polls of Election Day voters before and after the implementation of vote centers in Harris County, Texas, we examine if vote centers improved the voters’ experience. Contrary to theoretical expectations, we find that those who voted at a vote center reported having a more negative experience. This negative experience is driven primarily by longer lines and less helpful poll workers.

Peran Rumah Pintar Pemilu Dalam Meningkatkan Partisipasi Masyarakat Pada Pemilu Serentak

The purpose of this article is to analyze the role of the KPU Binjai City in carrying out the RPP in conducting voter education to the public and analyzing the success of the RPP in increasing public voter participation in Binja City in the 2019 Election. This research uses descriptive analysis research, which aims to provide a description of Research subjects based on data from the variables obtained from the group of subjects studied were about RPP in increasing voter participation, which requires a number of data and descriptions qualitatively to support the research results. The results showed that the Binjai KPU in the 2019 election has played a role as a facilitator, socializer to expand information and the election agenda. The RPP of Binjai City in increasing voter participation in the 2019 election. The participation rate increased by 7.92% from 74.34% to 82.26% for Pileg while for the implementation of the 2019 presidential election the participation rate increased by 16.91% from 65.68 % to 82.59%.