How Compelling is Compulsory Voting? A Multilevel Analysis of Turnout

Singh, Shane P.

doi:10.1007/s11109-010-9107-z

Cited by 86 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(29 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The president's expectation is consistent with research that shows that lowering registration costs is often associated with higher turnout (Gimpel and Schuknecht, 2003;Vonnahme, 2012). Meanwhile, as with research that shows voluntary voting results in lower turnout rates than compulsory voting (Irwin, 1974;Singh, 2011), opponents feared that this transition would result in a dramatic drop-off in turnout. Consistent with the latter expectation, turnout dropped considerably in the two elections following the reform.…”

supporting

confidence: 69%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Election Law Reform in Chile: The Implementation of Automatic Registration and Voluntary Voting

BarnesTiffany¹,

RangelGabriela²

2014

Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 2012, Chile passed a major election law reform to adopt automatic registration and voluntary voting. Prior to this, Chile, like most Latin American countries, had a compulsory voting law. With this reform, Chile became one of only a few countries to ever move from compulsory to voluntary voting. Since the new law came into effect, two elections have taken place. The purpose of this research note is to review registration and turnout patterns in comparative historical terms, discuss the pros and cons of the election law reform, and to evaluate the 2012 and 2013 election outcomes with respect to voter turnout and election results. We describe the background of voter registration and turnout under the old system; discuss the debate surrounding the election law reform; and review the impact of the reform on turnout patterns.''[The government of Chile] expects wide-spread electoral participation from our citizens, and we are convinced that the next municipal election will be the election with the largest number of votes in the history of our country.'' -Sebastián Piñera, president of Chile (Estrategia, 2012).

show abstract

supporting

confidence: 69%

“…VOLUNTARY REGISTRATION AND COMPULSORY VOTING: PRIOR TO REFORM, 1989-2011 Leading up to the democratic transition in the late 1980s, Chile implemented an electoral system of voluntary registration and compulsory voting. Under this law, all Chilean citizens over the age of 18 (and qualified foreigners) were eligible to register to vote.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Election Law Reform in Chile: The Implementation of Automatic Registration and Voluntary Voting

BarnesTiffany¹,

RangelGabriela²

2014

Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This points to the long-asserted social ''levelling'' effect of compulsory voting whereby all, rather than just the privileged and well-established sectors of society, are enabled to have their preferences registered at election time (Lijphart, 1997;Hill, 2002). When it is well-administered and where sanctions are routinely applied (Louth and Hill, 2005;Panagopolous, 2008;Singh, 2011), compulsory voting is the most efficient and effective means for raising and maintaining high and socially even turnout. This tends to be true, not just in prosperous, wellresourced settings but in most compulsory voting settings (Birch, 2009;Louth and Hill, 2005).…”

Section: Compulsory Voting and Turnoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other words, so long as there is universal suffrage political equality is assured. The most important thing, on this view, is that everyone has the ''opportunity to influence political decision-making, not that all must exercise this'' (Saunders, 2010;2011).…”

Section: Is Equality Of Opportunity Enough?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Deliberative Democracy and Compulsory Voting

Hill¹

2013

Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Deliberative democrats tend to be skeptical about elections as mechanisms for deliberation, and with good reason. But the reality is that elections will likely persist as the primary means by which we make decisions-indirectly-about how we are governed. By contrast, deliberative democracy will likely continue in a supplementary role because of its feasibility problem, something that many pragmatic deliberative democrats now accept. It therefore pays to reflect on what kinds of elections best serve deliberative ideals and sensibilities. Although some deliberative democrats have rejected the idea of compulsory voting, I argue that they should be more open to the idea due to the fact that compulsory voting elections are more inclusive and less subject to distortions of unequal political power than are voluntary ones. They are also better able to reflect the objective interests of voters and to protect the conditions necessary for deliberation to occur.

show abstract

“…Countries which only formally cling to compulsory voting but fail to sanction non-voters do not substantially differ from countries without mandatory voting. If, by contrast, sanctions for abstention are strictly enforced, turnout is considerably higher (Fornos/Power/Garand 2004;Panagopoulos 2008;Birch 2009: 94;Singh 2011). Using data from ninety democratic countries, Figure 2 shows the average turnout in parliamentary elections between 2001 and 2010 for three groups of countries (see Gratschew 2002: 108).…”

Section: Turnout Decline and Compulsory Votingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Republican Liberty and Compulsory Voting

Schäfer

2011

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Armin Schäfer is a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne.MPIfG Discussion Papers are refereed scholarly papers of the kind that are publishable in a peer-reviewed disciplinary journal. Their objective is to contribute to the cumulative improvement of theoretical knowledge. The papers can be ordered from the institute for a small fee (hard copies) or downloaded free of charge (PDF). AbstractThis paper starts from four observations: (1) voter turnout is declining in established democracies; (2) low turnout means socio-economically unequal turnout; (3) compulsory voting is an effective means to increase turnout; (4) even low-turnout countries, however, have neither introduced nor even contemplated a legal obligation to vote. A closer look at the arguments against compulsory voting shows that these draw on assumptions from liberal political theory, which defines freedom negatively as non-interference. This concept of freedom has been challenged by "neo-republican" writers who, in the neo-Athenian tradition, understand freedom as "sharing in self-government" and, in the neo-Roman, as "non-domination." Both strands of republicanism attach importance to political participation and, it will be argued, offer reasons to support compulsory voting. The purpose of this paper is to show that opponents to mandatory voting have to rely on liberal assumptions that have not remained uncontested and to outline a republican defense of equal participation. ZusammenfassungAufgrund von vier Beobachtungen diskutiert das Papier, ob sich eine Wahlpflicht rechtfertigen lässt: (1) In vielen etablierten Demokratien sinkt die Wahlbeteiligung; (2) eine niedrige Wahlbeteiligung ist immer sozial ungleich; (3) eine Wahlpflicht ist ein effektives Mittel, die Wahlbeteiligung anzuheben, aber dennoch (4) gibt es selbst in Ländern mit niedriger Wahlbeteiligung kaum Bestrebungen, Bürger zur Wahlteilnahme zu verpflichten. Argumente gegen die Wahlpflicht stützen sich überwiegend auf Annahmen der liberalen politischen Theorie, in der Freiheit negativ als Abwesenheit von Einmischung verstanden wird. Gegen dieses Freiheitsverständnis wenden sich "neo-republikanische" Autoren, die in der neo-athenischen Spielart Freiheit als Selbstregierung und in der neo-römischen als Nichtdominierung verstehen. Beide Varianten betonen die Bedeutung politischer Partizipation für die Demokratie und bieten Rechtfertigungsgründe für die Einführung einer Wahlpflicht. Das Papier führt den Nachweis, dass die Gegner einer Wahlpflicht sich auf Annahmen stützen, die nicht unumstritten sind, und entwickelt eine republikanische Verteidigung gleicher politischer Partizipation.

show abstract

How Compelling is Compulsory Voting? A Multilevel Analysis of Turnout

Cited by 86 publications

References 26 publications

Election Law Reform in Chile: The Implementation of Automatic Registration and Voluntary Voting

Election Law Reform in Chile: The Implementation of Automatic Registration and Voluntary Voting

Deliberative Democracy and Compulsory Voting

Republican Liberty and Compulsory Voting

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About