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Declining levels of participation in elections and especially presidential elections, have prompted greater interest among academics and policy makers in the sources and practical consequences of low turnout. This article shows that although nonvoters have many characteristics which mark them as Democratic voters, there is no reason to believe that high turnout elections, especially at the presidential level, would benefit Democratic candidates. The lower levels of involvement and commitment which characterize chronic nonvoters and peripheral voters would simply promote greater interelection oscillation if these voters began to turn out.

This article examines changes in the turnout of registered voters in presidential primaries over the last 12 years that result from changes in the primary environment. While previous research has been limited to static, cross-sectional analysis, we undertake a diachronic analysis of the link between changes in voter turnout and changes in the electoral framework and strategic campaign components of the primary environment. By making a controlled comparison of the impact of such changes on voter turnout, we are able to gauge the sensitivity of electorate responsiveness to primary environment change. In contrast to previous research, we find little or no difference between the behavior of Republican and Democratic electorates and no spillover effect on voter turnout. It is suggested that those interested in increasing voter turnout in the presidential primaries should focus on the design of competition, since turnout is considerably more sensitive to changes in strategic campaign factors than to changes in electoral framework factors.

This article explores structural causes of the decline in turnout in American elections. One-quarter of the 10 percentage point decline in presidential turnout since 1964 is explained by a changing age distribution. America's population is growing in just those young and old age groups that vote in low rates. A second structural cause is an expanding election calendar across federal, state, and local governments. A disaggregation of elections has increased the number of times electors are called to the polls, which has contributed to declining turnout in individual elections. Finally, tracing individual voter histories across a series of elections provides evidence of a core electorate, which is large as a proportion of the registered electorate and which votes at a reasonably high and equal level. The evidence for these voter histories is drawn from the CPS Voter Validation Study and from a sample of registered voters in a Connecticut town.

After the drastic relaxation of voter registration requirements in the 1960s, do present state laws keep people away from the polls? More specifically, which provisions have how much effect on what kinds of people? We have answered these questions with data from the Current Population Survey conducted by the Census Bureau in November 1972.State registration laws reduced turnout in the 1972 presidential election by about nine percentage points. The impact of the laws was heaviest in the South and on less educated people of both races. Early deadlines for registration and limited registration office hours were the biggest impediments to turnout.Contrary to expectations, changing these requirements would not substantially alter the character of the electorate. The voting population would be faintly less affluent and educated; the biggest difference would be a matter of one or two percentage points. In strictly political terms, the change would be even fainter–a gain for the Democrats of less than half a percent.

Voter turnout has declined in elections at all levels of American government. Though much research has been devoted to understanding diminished turnout in national contests, there has been scant attention to factors affecting local electoral participation. In this study, we examine both cross-sectionally and longitudinally the impact on turnout of adopting a reformed plan of government and non-partisanship. Evidence from elections in the 1930s, 1960s, and 1970s suggests that council-manager government and nonpartisanship do, as hypothesized, impede municipal voter turnout.

In 1960 and 1962 an intensive study was conducted of voluntary organizations and social participation in the town of Biggar, Saskatchewan. While the research was primarily focused upon the structure and characteristics of local voluntary groups, their leadership and their participants, it also delved into the related subjects of voter turnout (on the local, provincial, and federal election levels) and political party preference (on the provincial and federal levels). It is the purpose of this paper to present, and examine the implications of, these latter data. Following a brief description of the research site, and the sample chosen for study, the data are first examined in terms of the apparent relationship between voter turnout and party preference in a community where party switching (that is, voting for one party on the provincial level, another on the federal) is not an uncommon phenomenon. This analysis suggests the probability that a relatively small number of "switch voters" may be the key to party success in many Canadian communities, and examines the question of whether party popularity or keenness of a local competition plays a greater role in stimulating voter turnout. A series of eight social factors are then considered, independently, in terms of their relationships to turnout and party preference. A number of significant findings emerge, some of which support, others of which question, expectations based upon previous research in Canada and elsewhere.