Suchergebnisse

Electoral districting and the vote share needed for election are analysed in terms of structural features. Challenges to the majority vote requirement and electoral formats are based on claims arising under the 1982 Voting Rights Act that these arrangements dilute the influence of minority voters. Examines turnout and its racial breakdown to determine whether there is a relationship with the challenged mechanisms. (SJK)

Abstract. We examine turnout in 324 democratic national lower house elections held in 91 countries, between 1972 and 1995. We rely on Freedom House ratings of political rights to determine whether an election is democratic or not. We distinguish three blocs of factors that affect turnout: the socio–economic environment, institutions, and party systems. We show that turnout is influenced by a great number of factors and that the patterns that have been shown to prevail in studies dealing with more limited samples of countries generally hold when we look at a larger set of democracies. But we also show that the socioeconomic environment, which has been downplayed in previous studies, has a substantial impact on turnout.

We examine turnout in 324 democratic national lower house elections held in 91 countries, between 1972 and 1995. We rely on Freedom House ratings of political rights to determine whether an election is democratic or not. We distinguish three blocs of factors that affect turnout: the socio-economic environment, institutions, and party systems. We show that turnout is influenced by a great number of factors and that the patterns that have been shown to prevail in studies dealing with more limited samples of countries generally hold when we look at a larger set of democracies. But we also show that the socio-economic environment, which has been downplayed in previous studies, has a substantial impact on turnout. (European Journal of Political Research / FUB)

This article develops a model that simultaneously considers individual turnout and vote choice while also accounting for uncertainty about candidates. The theoretical development of this model implies that the effects of uncertainty on turnout vary with the strength of individual preferences. Application of the model to individual choice in the 1996 American presidential election confirms that decreasing uncertainty about the character traits of the candidates decreases the probability of abstention for individuals with strong preferences but increases the probability of abstention for individuals with weak preferences.

Turnout in municipal elections is even lower than that in presidential elections. Yet the problem has been largely ignored by academicians. In recent years, there have been court challenges under the 1982 Voting Rights Act to majority vote and other than single‐member districting provisions as requirements that are believed to dilute the political impact of minorities. The present analysis presents an overview of our knowledge to date, relating electoral districting and majority vote arrangements to black patterns of participation. It reviews the available literature, traces the associations that exist, identifies the problems in data collection and analysis that are present and sets forth a propositional inventory and set of conclusions that can serve as the basis for future research. The analysis incorporates original data and insights from the author's research and from cities in which he has served as a consultant.

Role of ethnicity, electoral districting, and the vote share needed for election; based on data from six US cities, 1976-86.