Since the turn of the twenty-first century, electoral turnout has been in general decline, not least in France, where the process of electoral acculturation has been called into question by plummeting levels of participation in legislative and municipal elections. Presidential polls are still attracting huge numbers, but in 2017 over four million voters spoiled their papers in the second round. These disturbing trends require some explanation, and they have been ascribed to disillusionment with the democratic process and a growing belief that casting a ballot achieves rather little. However, while the habit of voting is being lost, this apparent crisis of citizenship must be set in perspective, because this study has demonstrated that high turnout was not automatically generated by a mass franchise in the past. Moreover, recent research has revealed that those who never vote, or fail to register to do so, have remained in a small minority. Instead, increasing numbers are voting intermittently, choosing to exercise their right not to vote, an expression of vitality perhaps, compared to the somewhat mechanical behaviour of their predecessors. The same might be said of blank voting or annotating the ballot paper, while alternative forms of political engagement have been encouraged by the Internet. Above all, the development of women’s apprenticeship in voting has benefited from gender parity in candidatures and the number of females in elected office has increased enormously. In short, learning to vote remains a work in progress.
