I examine the extent to which voter turnout tends to drop from the primary to the runoff election. Results indicate that turnout declined in almost 77% of all Democratic gubernatorial, senatorial, and congressional runoffs held from 1956 to 1984. The extent of decline is greater in congressional and senatorial runoffs than in gubernatorial runoffs and is especially pronounced in congressional runoffs unaccompanied by gubernatorial or senatorial runoffs. I explore several other determinants of turnout decline, including both contextual and procedural variables. Especially important is the degree of Republican opposition: as the level of Republican viability in a state or constituency increases, so does the relative level of runoff abstention.
Current issues are now on the Chicago Journals website. Read the latest issue. Established in 1939 and published for the Southern Political Science Association, The Journal of Politics is a leading general-interest journal of political science and the oldest regional political science journal in the United States. The scholarship published in The Journal of Politics is theoretically innovative and methodologically diverse, and comprises a blend of the various intellectual approaches that make up the discipline. The Journal of Politics features balanced treatments of research from scholars around the world, in all subfields of political science including American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and political methodology.
Source.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2131348?seq=1
1985.
Many different factors influence voter turnout levels.
Electoral Competitiveness: One of the most important factors is the competitiveness of the presidential election in each state. Overall, 66% of eligible voters turned out to the polls in the nation's 12 most competitive states in 2012, but only 57% did in the nation's 39 other states (including the District of Columbia).
Election Type: Low turnout is most pronounced in primary elections, off-year elections for state legislators, and local elections
I examine the extent to which voter turnout tends to drop from the primary to the runoff election. Results indicate that turnout declined in almost 77% of all Democratic gubernatorial, senatorial, and congressional runoffs held from 1956 to 1984. The extent of decline is greater in congressional and senatorial runoffs than in gubernatorial runoffs and is especially pronounced in congressional runoffs unaccompanied by gubernatorial or senatorial runoffs. I explore several other determinants of turnout decline, including both contextual and procedural variables. Especially important is the degree of Republican opposition: as the level of Republican viability in a state or constituency increases, so does the relative level of runoff abstention.
Current issues are now on the Chicago Journals website. Read the latest issue. Established in 1939 and published for the Southern Political Science Association, The Journal of Politics is a leading general-interest journal of political science and the oldest regional political science journal in the United States. The scholarship published in The Journal of Politics is theoretically innovative and methodologically diverse, and comprises a blend of the various intellectual approaches that make up the discipline. The Journal of Politics features balanced treatments of research from scholars around the world, in all subfields of political science including American politics, comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and political methodology.
Source.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2131348?seq=1
1985.
Many different factors influence voter turnout levels.
Electoral Competitiveness: One of the most important factors is the competitiveness of the presidential election in each state. Overall, 66% of eligible voters turned out to the polls in the nation's 12 most competitive states in 2012, but only 57% did in the nation's 39 other states (including the District of Columbia).
Election Type: Low turnout is most pronounced in primary elections, off-year elections for state legislators, and local elections
When voters go to the polls starting Monday morning, Darryl Hicks is confident.that this time ??? every ballot will count.
That wasn’t the case last month in Fayette County, where Hicks is chairman of the county election board — at least not at first. It wasn’t until a statewide recount that officials determined one memory card from a machine used during early voting hadn’t been accounted for in the first tally.
When voters go to the polls starting Monday morning, Darryl Hicks is confident.that this time ??? every ballot will count.
That wasn’t the case last month in Fayette County, where Hicks is chairman of the county election board — at least not at first. It wasn’t until a statewide recount that officials determined one memory card from a machine used during early voting hadn’t been accounted for in the first tally.
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