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Conventional wisdom suggests that school administrators believe the high turnout of general elections impairs referenda passage. More referenda, then, are often planned for primary and municipal elections than general elections. This paper analyzes 840 Illinois school referenda conducted from 1981‐89 to determine if predictors of voter turnout vary by these election types This analysis reveals the misconception of conventional wisdom, finding that the determinants of voter turnout are similar across election types and there is little difference in referenda passage rates between election types.

Investigates whether voter turnout varies in municipal, primary, and general elections; based on study of 840 referenda, 1981-89.

Though the overreporting of voter turnout in the National Election Study (NES) is widely known, this article shows that the problem has become increasingly severe. The gap between NES and official estimates of presidential election turnout has more than doubled in a nearly linear fashion, from 11 points in 1952 to 24 points in 1996. This occurred because official voter turnout fell steadily from 1960 onward, while NES turnout did not. In contrast, the bias in House election turnout is always smaller and has increased only marginally. Using simple bivariate statistics, I find that worsening presidential turnout estimates are the result mostly of declining response rates rather than instrumentation, question wording changes, or other factors. As more peripheral voters have eluded interviewers in recent years, the sample became more saturated with self-reported voters, thus inflating reported turnout.

This study examines the effect of hypersegregation on turnout in recent elections in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Baltimore, Maryland. A Geographical Information System (GIS) is used to assign to each registered voter in both cities his or her census block group via geocoding The individual-level voting data are then aggregated up to the block group level and merged with a subset of block group-level 1990 census variables A set of statistical analyses are next performed to measure the contextual effect of the racial composition of surrounding areas on voter turnout at the block group level The results show that after controlling for income, racially homogeneous block groups (Black or non-Black) situated in surrounding areas that mirror their own racial composition have significantly higher levels of political participation than corresponding block groups situated in surrounding areas that do not reflect their racial composition

This article focuses on diachronic and synchronic variation in Norwegian electoral turnout from 1945 to 1991. The model contains aggregate data divided into two‐year intervals with regions as cross‐sections. The impact of both socio‐economic and political variables is tested. The two‐dimensional view on turnout variation makes it possible to distinguish between short‐term and long‐term effects, as well as between national versus local factors. In contrast to related studies, this analysis actually tests for causality relationships between different political variables. The empirical results indicate that an increase in either national unemployment or regional income contributes to an increase in turnout rates. Electoral participation is also positively related to Labour support, industrial employment and strike activity.

Finds that the interaction between the racial makeup of a neighborhood and that of its surrounding community influences political participation; concludes that hypersegregation leads to higher turnout in Black neighborhoods, 1990-1992. Case studies of Bridgeport, Connecticut and Baltimore, Maryland.

Previous studies of turnout effects in U.S. elections have reported perplexingly different results for presidential as opposed to major statewide (senatorial and gubernatorial) contests. By justifying and applying a consistent methodology, the authors find that results for both types conform to the pattern previously reported by Nagel and McNulty for senatorial and gubernatorial races. Outside the South, higher turnout helped Democratic presidential candidates from 1928 through 1964. In 1968 through 1996, however, the impact of turnout in straight two-party contests was insignificant, except in the South, where Democrats benefited from higher turnout. In the earlier period, high turnout helped Democrats most in states where Republicans usually prevailed. Its effects became weaker or even pro-Republican in the most strongly Democratic states. All of these findings uphold DeNardo's mathematical model, which provides an empirically supported theory of the partisan effects of turnout in U.S. presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial elections.