How Effective Are Monetary Incentives to Vote? Evidence from a Nationwide Policy

We study voters’ response to marginal changes to the fine for electoral abstention in Peru, leveraging variation from a nationwide reform. A smaller fine has a robust, negative effect on voter turnout, partly through irregular changes in voter registration. However, representation is largely unaffected, as most of the lost votes are blank or invalid. We also show that the effect of an exemption from compulsory voting is substantially larger than that of a full fine reduction, suggesting that nonmonetary incentives are the main drivers behind the effectiveness of compulsory voting. (JEL D72, K16, O17)

Clientelism in the electoral process as a manifestation political corruption. Case of Ukraine

Authors consider political corruption and clientelism in the electoral process as destructive phenomena that violate the normal principle of society and artificially create obstacles within the political system. The understanding of clientelism by different authors as a component of political corruption, the conditions of its existence, as well as the consequences and influence on political power are analysed. Basing on the achievements of foreign scientists, the content and the essence of the concept of “electoral clientelism” is determined, the main reasons and preconditions of this phenomenon emergence are found, the authors’ own definition, summarizing the known scientific approaches, is offered. The devastating impact of clientelism on the electoral process that results in violating the principle of competition between political forces, and further leads to the development of corruption in the power system, is elucidated. Varieties of electoral clientelism in accordance with the tasks set by corrupt subjects of the electoral process in order to gain an advantage over opponents during the voting are found out. Apart from the approach, where electoral clientelism provides material benefits to voters, an approach, where the voters are constantly informed of the clientele character data, basing on which the unfair politicians create a mobilization campaign, is considered. The authors showed their own vision of the connection between electoral clientelism and political corruption manifested in the occupation of political positions by ineffective candidates and further use of their powers for private purposes, which will threaten the long-term prospects of social development. A number of ways to regulate clientelism’s impact on the electoral process, in particular through electronic voting introduction, established compulsory voting, agitation campaign financing control, severe penalties for clientele activity etc., are traced.

The Effects of Compulsory Voting on Individuals

This chapter empirically tests the expectation that compulsory voting moderates the effects of orientations toward democracy on political attitudes, behavior, and sophistication. It first employs cross-national survey data from the AmericasBarometer and the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems to estimate multilevel models. It also uses cross-cantonal data from the Swiss Election Study, and novel survey data from Argentina collected for this book. The analyses of the Swiss and Argentine data leverage age-based thresholds in the application of compulsory voting with discontinuity models. Results suggest that, in line with the predictions of the theory advanced in Chapter 3, compulsory voting polarizes behavior and attitudes, and broadens gaps in political sophistication levels, among those with negative and positive orientations toward democracy.

Introduction

The introductory chapter addresses the need for a new full-length manuscript on compulsory voting and discuss the meaning of the term. The chapter then reviews arguments for and against the requirement to vote, focusing mostly on matters of duty, collective action, legitimacy, representation, and the putative downstream consequences of compulsory voting. The chapter subsequently briefly reviews the history of compulsory voting and the potential reasons for its implementation. The chapter then provides data on where and how compulsory voting is used today and gives a detailed overview of recent events surrounding compulsory voting throughout the world. From there, the chapter discusses various empirical methods available to the scientific community for assessing the effects of the legal requirement to vote.

How Compulsory Voting Affects Individuals

This first theoretical chapter develops an expectation that individuals with negative orientations toward democracy are less likely to support compulsory voting. With reference to existing theory about the psychological, attitudinal, and behavioral effects of coercion, the chapter then puts forth expectations about how compulsory voting will amplify the relationships between orientations toward democracy and support for political authorities, support for outsider or extremist parties, and political sophistication. The chapter argues that negative orientations are more likely to be predictive of “antidemocratic” attitudes and behaviors, as well as a lack of political sophistication, where reluctant individuals are compelled to vote. At the same time, the chapter advances the expectation that pro-democratic orientations are more likely to boost attitudinal and behavioral support for the democratic system and its authorities, as well as to engender higher political sophistication, under mandatory rules.

Beyond Turnout

Compulsory voting is widely used in the democratic world, and it is well established that it increases electoral participation. This book assesses the effects of compulsory voting beyond turnout. The author first summarizes the normative arguments for and against compulsory voting, provides information on its contemporary use, reviews recent events pertaining to its (proposed) adoption and abolition, and provides an extensive account of extant research on its consequences. The author then advances a theory that compulsory voting polarizes behavior and attitudes, and broadens gaps in political sophistication levels, among those with negative and positive orientations toward democracy. Recognizing the impact of mandatory voting on the electorate, political parties then alter the ways in which they seek votes, with mainstream parties moderating their platforms and smaller parties taking more extreme positions. The author uses survey data from countries with compulsory voting to show that support for the requirement to vote is driven by individuals’ orientations toward democracy. The theory is then comprehensively tested using: cross-national data, cross-cantonal data from Switzerland, and survey data from Argentina. Empirical results are largely indicative of the theorized process whereby compulsory voting has divergent effects on citizens and political parties. The book concludes with a discussion of future directions for academic research, implications for those who craft electoral policy, and alternative ways of boosting turnout.

The Correlates of Support for Compulsory Voting

Chapter 4 empirically probes the relationship between attitudes toward democracy and support for compulsory voting. In doing so, it makes use of a range of public opinion surveys which ask questions about attitudes toward compulsory voting. Results demonstrate variation in the average level of support for compulsory voting across countries. They are also indicative of a systematic, negative effect of dissatisfaction with democracy, which is used to capture orientations toward democracy, on support for compulsory voting. This effect can be discerned even with controls for political interest, ideology, and a slate of demographic variables. This supports the uncomplicated but foundational expectation of the theory in Chapter 3: that those who are democratically disenchanted are also unsupportive of mandatory voting.

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.