FIND DATA: By Author | Journal | Sites   ANALYZE DATA: Help with R | SPSS | Stata | Excel   WHAT'S NEW? US Politics | Int'l Relations | Law & Courts
   FIND DATA: By Author | Journal | Sites   WHAT'S NEW? US Politics | IR | Law & Courts
If this link is broken, please report as broken. You can also submit updates (will be reviewed).
Insights from the Field

Concurrent Elections Boost Voter Turnout: A 10 Percentage Point Increase in Germany


concurrent elections
voter turnout increase
Germany low-salience
regression discontinuity
Voting and Elections
PSR&M
3 archives
Dataverse
How to Increase Turnout in Low-Salience Elections: Quasi-experimental evidence on the effect of concurrent second-order elections on political participation was authored by Arndt Leininger, Lukas Rudolph and Steffen Zittlau. It was published by Cambridge in PSR&M in 2018.

Voter turnout in second-order elections, like regional or local races, is declining significantly across many democracies. This paper explores how holding multiple low-salience elections at the same time could increase participation by making voting seem less costly relative to individuals.

\u{1F4A5} The Puzzle: Voter engagement drops in secondary elections even when they are legally important.

\u{1F9E0} Concurrent Elections Idea: Holding multiple elections together should lower the cost for voters because each vote requires similar effort. This "economy of scale" approach suggests higher turnout than stand-alone races.

\u{23FE5} Methodology & Evidence: Using quasi-random timing variations in German local elections, we estimate a causal impact. We find that concurrent mayoral contests lead to about 10 percentage points more voter participation overall.

\u{1F4D6} Qualifications: The effect depends on district size and the competitiveness of the local race. We don't assume simultaneous elections always boost turnout, but show conditions make a difference.

data
Find on Google Scholar
Find on JSTOR
Find on CUP
Political Science Research & Methods
Podcast host Ryan