Size Doesn't Matter: In Defense of Single-State Studies

Nicholson‐Crotty, Sean; Meier, Kenneth J.

doi:10.1177/153244000200200405

Cited by 94 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Focusing on Iowa allows us to benefit from some advantages commonly associated with studies of a single political jurisdiction (Nicholson-Crotty and Meier, 2002;Golden, 2005;Gehrig, 2006). Looking at how ex-felon participation changes within a state as restoration policies change allows us to control for the unobserved determinants of ex-felon participation that remain constant within the state across time.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Politics of the Restoration of Ex-Felon Voting Rights: The Case of Iowa

Meredith

Morse

2015

QJPS

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We investigate how the restoration of voting rights affects the political participation of ex-felons. Our primary analysis uses unique administrative data from Iowa, which changed how ex-felons restore their voting rights in both 2005 and 2011. Prior to 2005, ex-felons had to apply to apply to the governor restore their voting rights. We show that ex-felon turnout increased after Iowa began to automatically restore these rights. Consistent with misinformation being a significant barrier to ex-felons' political participation, ex-felons were more likely to vote if they were informed about this policy change. The application requirement was re-instated for ex-felons discharged since 2011 and we show that this reduced their 2012 presidential election turnout. We conclude by comparing the actual turnout rate of recently discharged ex-felons in Iowa, Maine, and Rhode Island to the turnout rate predicted by Uggen and Manza (2002). This comparison suggests that although restoration procedures can substantively affect exfelon turnout, restoration procedures are not the only reason why ex-felons vote less often than observably similar non-felons.

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confidence: 99%

The Politics of the Restoration of Ex-Felon Voting Rights: The Case of Iowa

Meredith

Morse

2015

QJPS

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“…Further adjudication between legal-institutional and behavioral accounts of voter turnout, it seems, may just require more in the way of historical relics. Enterprising future researchers might find that single-state case studies, like the one presented here, provide perhaps the best opportunity to unearth such treasures (see also Nicholson-Crotty and Meier 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Reconciling Legal-Institutional and Behavioral Perspectives on Voter Turnout: Theory and Evidence from Pennsylvania, 1876–1948

Neiheisel

2016

State Politics Policy Q.

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Foundational studies in political science endeavored to explain the dynamics of voter turnout in America over time. Two theories, one focused on legal-institutional factors and the other on behavioral elements such as party mobilization strategies, were born from the need to account for temporal fluctuations in aggregate voter turnout. A comprehensive test of these competing theories has been hindered by the fact that reliable measures of the behavioral factors driving turnout have proven elusive. In this article, I develop and test an interactive theory of voter turnout that focuses on the impact of legal-institutional barriers to the franchise conditional on party organizational strength and mobilization efforts. To this end, I use data on the circulation of partysponsored newspapers, coupled with information on the spread of voter registration requirements, to capture the effects of both behavioral and legal-institutional factors in Pennsylvania between 1876 and 1948. My results offer modest empirical support for an interactive theory of aggregate voter turnout. In isolation, however, the effects of behavioral factors are quite limited. On the contrary, legal-institutional variables exert a sizable impact on voter turnout in the state. Contrary to other recent work on the subject, careful analysis of the Pennsylvania case therefore provides a great deal of evidence in favor of legal-institutional accounts of the changes in aggregate voter turnout that were witnessed at the beginning of the twentieth century while demonstrating that behavioral factors, such as the decline of the partisan press, served to enhance the deleterious effects of legal reforms on turnout.

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“…In doing so, I offer a more nuanced evaluation of the effectiveness lobbying activities that more fully accounts for the political context in which these activities take place. Although the analyses only examine a single state, this should not limit the generalizability of the findings (Nicholson-Crotty and Meier, 2002). Indeed, the characteristics of the Wisconsin legislature make it a relatively representative of other states and Congress.…”

Section: Determinants Of Lobbying Influencementioning

confidence: 99%

Advocacy and influence: Lobbying and legislative outcomes in Wisconsin

Lewis

2013

Int Groups Adv

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Executive Summary Gauging the influence of organized interests in the American legislative process is undeniably a difficult undertaking. Interest groups and their lobbyists have little incentive to publicly reveal their goals and the extent of their efforts in pursuing those goals. Nationally, and in most states, lobbyists and interest groups are only required to publicly report their lobbying expenditures and the general policy areas in which they are interested in. Thus, it is extremely difficult to assess whether groups are successful in advocating for or against a particular bill. However, a few states have recently begun to require lobbyists and organized interests engaged in lobbying to report each specific bill they have lobbied and, in Wisconsin, whether they support or oppose the bill. These enhanced reporting requirements allow for a more systematic assessment of interest group influence in the legislative process. This study exploits this new data to address the question of lobbying efficacy by examining the outcomes of a random sample of bills introduced in the Wisconsin state legislature during the 2007-2008 session. By looking systematically at the extent to which lobbying and advocacy efforts affect the outcomes of introduced legislation, the analyses are able to show that these efforts, contrary to some of the recent research, have significant effects. Although contextual factors remain important, this study shows that advocacy efforts are influential in their own right. In addition, the analyses of this unique data reveal that several types of interest group activities (for example, campaign contributions) vary in their degree of influence at different points in the legislative process.

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Size Doesn't Matter: In Defense of Single-State Studies

Cited by 94 publications

References 21 publications

The Politics of the Restoration of Ex-Felon Voting Rights: The Case of Iowa

The Politics of the Restoration of Ex-Felon Voting Rights: The Case of Iowa

Reconciling Legal-Institutional and Behavioral Perspectives on Voter Turnout: Theory and Evidence from Pennsylvania, 1876–1948

Advocacy and influence: Lobbying and legislative outcomes in Wisconsin

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