Voter Equalization and Turnout Bias After Electoral Reform: Evidence from Chile’s Voluntary Voting Law

Abstract

It has normally been argued that because compulsory voting systems present higher turnout rates relative to voluntary voting systems, they do not generate as many biases between different groups of voters. This article qualifies that view. It argues that in cases in which compulsory voting does not ensure near-universal participation, there is no certainty that switching to voluntary voting will increase inequalities. This issue is examined by looking at Chile, a democracy that moved from compulsory voting to voluntary voting in 2012. The research finds that while the reform generated class bias in urban districts, it also substantially reduced age bias and, in national elections, equalized participation between small and large districts. The conclusion is that abandoning compulsory voting does not necessarily increase turnout biases, since much depends on the structure of preexisting biases and how these are conditioned by particular electoral institutions.

Collective Memory and Democratic Mobilization: Insights from Chile's Constitutional Revolution (2019-2023)

“…Municipalities with pre-1970 military bases had less turnout (-3.2 percentage points) and did not show higher support for the draft, aligning with findings by Brieba and Bunker (2019) on persistent turnout bias in Chile, whether voting is voluntary or mandatory.…”

Where is the class bias attenuation? The consequences of adopting compulsory voting in Austria-Hungary in 1907

“…CV does not affect the likelihood of the rich having higher turnout relative to the poor in another international comparison (Kasara and Suryanarayan, 2015). Experience with a recent CV abolition in Chile suggests that while CV did not generate any class biases, switching to voluntary voting introduced pro-rich biases in urban districts and pro-poor biases in the rural ones (Brieba and Bunker, 2019).…”

Public Appointments as Informal Institutions: Lessons From the Cuoteo in Chile, 1990-2018

“…Ironically, the reforms have had the perverse effect of increasing clientelism at the local and regional level (Brieba and Bunker 2019). The drastic drop in voter participation rates, which fell to 35% in the municipal elections of 2016 as a result of this change, makes it is easier for local caudillos to control votes in local elections, as the number of voters whom they can reach with clientelist practices has now increased as a proportion of the total voters.…”