Associationism and Electoral Participation: A Multilevel Study of 2000 Spanish General Election

A bottleneck model of e-voting: Why technology fails to boost turnout

New Media & Society ◽

10.1177/1461444811405807 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 1336-1354 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Kristjan Vassil ◽

Till Weber

Keyword(s):

Survey Data ◽

New Technology ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

General Election ◽

Electoral Participation ◽

Bottleneck Effect ◽

Political Inequality ◽

Internet Voting ◽

Bottleneck Model ◽

The Impact

Recent years have seen increasing interest in internet voting in theory and practice. Proponents hope that modernizing the electoral process will boost turnout. Less optimistic scholars object that the new technology merely perpetuates existing patterns of participation. This study aims to arbitrate the controversy. New survey data from the 2007 general election in Estonia allow us to predict the usage of e-voting and its impact on electoral participation. We find that e-voting mostly affects ‘peripheral’ citizens (in a demographic and political sense), but only few of these citizens vote online in the first place. Conversely, the impact on typical e-voters is low. This ‘bottleneck’ effect explains why e-voting has failed to boost turnout but also points to a role in reducing political inequality.

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Economic globalisation, the perceived room to manoeuvre of national governments, and electoral participation: Evidence from the 2001 British General Election

Electoral Studies ◽

10.1016/j.electstud.2015.12.004 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. 118-128 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Nils D. Steiner

Keyword(s):

General Election ◽

Electoral Participation ◽

National Governments ◽

Economic Globalisation

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Electoral Participation and Political Context: The Turnout–Marginality Paradox at the 2001 British General Election

Environment and Planning A Economy and Space ◽

10.1068/a3747 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 37 (7) ◽

pp. 1191-1206 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Charles J Pattie ◽

Ron J Johnston

Keyword(s):

Political Context ◽

General Election ◽

Electoral Participation ◽

Aggregate Level ◽

Electoral Turnout ◽

The Impact

Constituency-level analyses of electoral turnout commonly uncover a correlation between the marginality of a seat and the level of electoral participation in the seat: the closer the local contest, the greater the rate of participation in the election. However, repeated efforts to assess the impact of constituency marginality on the propensity of individual electors to participate have met with failure. The 2001 British General Election was no exception to either result. This presence of an ecological aggregate-level relationship which is not replicated at the level of individual voters is paradoxical. However, the paradox can be resolved when two analytical steps are combined. First, nonvoters are classified into two groups according to their reasons for abstention: those who abstain on purpose (‘voluntary abstainers’), and those who fail to vote for reasons largely beyond their control (‘involuntary abstainers’). Second, attention is paid not only to actual marginality but also to perceived marginality. Individuals who think their constituency is competitive are less likely to abstain deliberately than individuals who think their constituency is safe.

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