Compulsory voting and political knowledge: Testing a ‘compelled engagement’ hypothesis

Sheppard, Jill

doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2015.10.005

Cited by 56 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Lending support to this socialization thesis, some studies find a link between compulsory voting and higher levels of political knowledge and engagement in the public (e.g., Gordon and Segura 1997; Berggren 2001). However, a preponderance of published work finds no such link or finds it to be weak (e.g., Loewen, Milner and Hicks 2008; Birch 2009, Chapter 4; Selb and Lachat 2009, 575, note 1; de Leon and Rizzi 2014; Sheppard 2015; Carreras 2016). This lack of support may come about because voters need not inform themselves about the issues of the day in order to avoid a sanction where voting is mandatory.…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politically Unengaged, Distrusting, and Disaffected Individuals Drive the Link Between Compulsory Voting and Invalid Balloting

Singh¹

2017

PSRM

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Invalid ballots are relatively common in countries with compulsory voting, yet there is no cross-national evidence as to who is more likely to cast a blank or spoiled ballot where voting is forced. I argue that increased rates of blank and spoiled balloting where voting is obligatory result from the behavior of the politically unknowledgeable, uninterested, untrusting, and disaffected, who are incentivized to turn out to the polls where they can be sanctioned for abstention. To test this, I conduct an individual-level examination of the influence of compulsory voting on invalid balloting across countries. I find support for my expectations with analyses of survey data from several American democracies, many of which compel electoral participation.

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Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politically Unengaged, Distrusting, and Disaffected Individuals Drive the Link Between Compulsory Voting and Invalid Balloting

Singh¹

2017

PSRM

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“…A number of studies find evidence of a positive link between mandatory voting and political sophistication (e.g., Córdova and Rangel ; Gordon and Segura ; Sheppard ; Shineman ), and compulsory voting is further shown to increase the extent to which individuals identify with political parties (Dalton and Weldon ; Huber, Kernell, and Leoni ; Singh and Thornton ). Still, others find little or no evidence of a positive effect of compulsory voting on political sophistication (e.g., Birch , chap.…”

Section: How Compulsory Voting Affects Parties’ Vote‐seeking Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also a burgeoning literature on the effects of compulsory voting on vote choices (e.g., Dassonneville et al., forthcoming; Dassonneville Hooghe, and Miller ; Katz and Levin, ; Selb and Lachat ; Singh , forthcoming‐b), the success of the left and right (e.g., Bechtel, Hangartner, and Schmid ; Birch , 120–28; Fowler ; Hoffman, León, and Lombardi ; Miller and Dassonneville ), political sophistication (e.g., Birch , chap. 4; Córdova and Rangel ; de Leon and Rizzi ; León ; Loewen, Milner, and Hicks ; Sheppard ; Shineman ), and attitudes toward democracy (e.g., Birch , 112–15; Singh, forthcoming‐a). Still, little is known about how compulsory voting affects the ways in which political parties seek electoral advantage.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Compulsory Voting and Parties’ Vote‐Seeking Strategies

Singh¹

2018

American J Political Sci

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I advance a theory about how compulsory voting affects the behavior of political parties. The theory suggests that parties will pivot toward programmatic vote‐seeking strategies and away from clientelistic tactics, such as vote buying, where voting is compulsory. I test my expectations in three separate studies, using several data sources and empirical approaches. In Study 1, cross‐national analyses show that parties behave more programmatically under compulsory voting and that vote buying is less common where voting is mandatory. In Study 2, synthetic control and difference‐in‐differences analyses show that a switch to compulsory voting in Thailand produced an increase in programmatic vote seeking. In Study 3, a list experiment conducted in tandem with a natural experiment shows that compulsory voting leads parties to rely less on vote‐buying tactics in Argentina. I conclude by discussing the implications of these findings, which together are broadly supportive of my theoretical expectations.

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“…Lijphart 1997), thus increasing their level of engagement with the democratic system, empirical support for such a dynamic is weak (e.g. Ballinger 2006;Birch 2009;Loewen, Milner, and Hicks 2008;Sheppard 2015; but see Shineman 2012). 25 Sidman (1989) explains that the effects of coercion on attitudes and behavior are conditional on orientations toward the overarching system-the attitudinal and behavioral effects of acting against one's will are most pronounced among those who are negatively oriented toward the coercer.…”

Section: Compulsory Voting and The Effects Of Coercion And Punishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compulsory Voting and Dissatisfaction with Democracy

Singh¹

2016

Brit. J. Polit. Sci.

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Compulsory voting is often linked to pro-democracy orientations in the public. However, there is reason to question the strength and universality of this link. Engaging research on the effects of coercion and punishment, this article argues that forced participation inflates the tendency of those with negative orientations towards democracy to see the democratic system as illegitimate, and to be dissatisfied with democracy. The study finds support for these expectations in analyses of three separate cross-national surveys and a natural experiment. Compulsory voting heightens dissatisfaction with democracy within key segments of the population.

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Compulsory voting and political knowledge: Testing a ‘compelled engagement’ hypothesis

Cited by 56 publications

References 19 publications

Politically Unengaged, Distrusting, and Disaffected Individuals Drive the Link Between Compulsory Voting and Invalid Balloting

Politically Unengaged, Distrusting, and Disaffected Individuals Drive the Link Between Compulsory Voting and Invalid Balloting

Compulsory Voting and Parties’ Vote‐Seeking Strategies

Compulsory Voting and Dissatisfaction with Democracy

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