Electoral Systems and Voter Turnout

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses voter turnout, which is important for the proper functioning of any legitimate democracy, defined as a government "of and by the people". There are many contributing factors to the level of voter participation, but this paper is concerned primarily with public institutions that have a profound effect on the willingness of voters to participate. The paper shows that electoral institutions are the most important characteristics that contribute to the size of the voting public. This paper demonstrates the relationship between electoral systems and voter turnout by examining various democracies around the world and choosing two that have a significant difference in the chosen independent variable. Four graphs are included with the paper.

Outline:
Electoral System
Civic Culture
Socio-Economic Standing
Population Size
Mandatory Voting
Registration Restrictions
Canada and Iceland
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Anyone familiar with scientific methodology knows that correlation is not the same as causation. Guy Peters explained this very well, "Finding significant statistical correlations... is rarely a problem for social researchers. What is more of a problem is determining whether those correlations are empirically and theoretically meaningful; that is, can we say confidently that X causes Y, or whether they are the product of other, unmeasured, variables...". There are theoretical explanations for the link between electoral system and voter turnout".

Sample of Sources Used:

• "A Global Survey: What Effects Turnout?" International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, http://www.idea.int/vt/survey/voter_turnout8.cfm.
• Banducci, S. A., T. Donovan, and J. A. Karp. "Proportional Representation and Attitudes About Politics: Results from New Zealand." Australian Journal of Political Science 34, no. 3 (1999): 533-55.
• Bowler, Shaun, David Brockington, and Todd Donovan. "Election Systems and Voter Turnout: Experiments in the United States." Journal of Politics 63, no. 3 (2001): 902.
• "General Elections." Statistics Iceland, http://www.statice.is/?PageID=1316&src=/temp_en/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=KOS02104%26ti=Votes+cast%2C+voters+on+the+electoral+roll+and+participation+by+municipalities+and+sex+2003+%26path=../Database/kosningar/althkjosendur/%26lang=1%26units=Number.
• Heimisson, Pall. "Republic of Iceland Parliamentary Elections May 12, 2007." Democrat Youth Community of Europe, http://www.demyc.org/fruitbasket/index.php?download=766.pdf.

More papers on Electoral Systems and Voter Turnout:

• Comparison Essay # 49696 : "Democratic Electoral Systems"
• Essay # 143562 : "Evaluating Electoral Reform In Canada"
• Research Paper # 108807 : "Local Politics"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: