Building from Hannah Pitkin’s work on forms of representative democracy, this thesis demonstrates how differing generational expectations of political representation affect participation in electoral politics. Consistent with earlier work, it confirms that youth voting decreases when young people are less educated, less interested, or when they lack a sense of responsibility. However these factors only explain part—and not necessarily the most important part—of the younger generation’s motivations for voting. The analysis also shows that youth are markedly less likely to vote when young people feel that their values are not aligned with those of political leaders. The relationship between values—or symbolic representation—and voting remains significant and strong for young people even when the classic predictors of voting are included in the model. In fact, symbolic representation is a stronger predictor of voting than such factors as education, political interest, or the sense of responsibility to vote. This new variable is therefore important in understanding why the most recent decline in voting occurs predominantly among youth. Issue campaigns are less likely to move young people one way or another with respect to voting, as the majority of issues do not affect young people directly, if at all. As a consequence youth are left to rely on their own understanding of what political leaders actually stand for to pull them in or entice them to vote. But if the values that young people care about are not symbolically represented by political leaders and their electoral platforms, then youth will have less to vote for, and will likely just stay home and ignore elections altogether. Conversely, if political leaders make modest changes to their campaign strategies that also appeal to values—rather than strictly to interests—we could also see an increase in turnout among youth, and therefore an increase in democratic legitimacy.

Elections are critical to the functioning of democracy, and many states have enacted various reforms designed to increase voter turnout. The reforms are referred to as ‘convenience voting’ methods and are designed to lower the perceived costs of voting. In 2006, Ohio adopted reforms that allowed no-excuse absentee voting and a period where voters could register and vote the same day. However, research still is unclear if these reforms have any effect on turnout. By comparing turnout in Ohio in presidential elections both before and after the reform to the same elections in Pennsylvania, a state that has not enacted similar reform, the effect of convenience voting can be seen. Looking at turnout in each county within the states reveals that the reform enacted in Ohio has had no positive impact on turnout. / Department of Political Science

In this research, I undertake an analysis of the relationship between aggregate voter turnout and income inequality within late-modern capitalist democracies to better understand the problem of declining voter turnout in these societies. I analyse this relationship at the sub-national level using provincial-level Canadian data and at the national level through a sample of twenty-one nations. At both levels, cross-sectional time-series regression analyses of pooled data are applied. Findings are interpreted through a citizenship lens; specifically the work of T.H. Marshall (1950) and Esping-Andersen (1990), as both social and political inclusion are fundamental and constitutive elements of citizenship. Initial findings include a statistically significant negative relationship between income inequality and voter turnout, for both provincial and federal general elections in Canada (1976-2011); this relationship is also found at the national level in a sample of older democracies (1980-2013). The relationship holds using various measures of income inequality including the Gini coefficient and a range of income ratios. However, once time is controlled for in the model this relationship seems to disappear. This suggests a lack of support for the theory that income inequality has a direct impact on participation in the exercise of political power. Rather, a more fundamental factor or factors seem to be causing these societal shifts. I discuss alternate ways of understanding this relationship, including how declining voter turnout and income inequality might be related to the broader socio-political and economic changes associated with economic globalisation and the global spread of neo-liberal fiscal policies. I conclude that to better understand the relationship between voter turnout and income inequality further research is required. / Graduate / 0630 / stewartl@uvic.ca

State laws disenfranchising felons and ex-felons have existed in many American states since before the Civil War. However, in the aftermath of the Civil War, new, more severe restrictions were passed as part of the Jim Crowe Era laws aimed at preventing black citizens from exercising their new rights. While many of these laws were eventually stricken down by Supreme Court decisions, felon disenfranchisement provisions survived scrutiny. This opened the door for white backlash against the gains made by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s to manifest itself via the development of the massive prison industrial system over the last 40 years. This paper’s inquiry is focused on the political consequences of the huge racial discrepancies in criminal justice outcomes in the United States, specifically on whether the disenfranchisement of felons and ex-felons depresses turnout among eligible black voters. I use an analysis of black voter turnout and its relationship to the severity of state disenfranchisement laws from 1980 through 2016 to explore three hypotheses related to these effects. The results suggest that, when all or most ex-felons are disenfranchised, the resulting dilution of the political efficacy and power of the communities into which they re-enter depresses turnout among eligible black voters in those communities. Additionally, I find evidence of significant depression in eligible black turnout in Southern states, suggesting the need for further investigation into the perpetuation of racial inequalities in specific geographic loci in the United States.

abstract: A large amount of research examines the effect of partisan polarization on the institution of Congress, yet we know remarkably little about this political phenomenon’s precise effect on the political behavior of the American electorate. Some scholars argue that polarization is healthy for democracy because it allows political elites to send clear cues to the mass public, but other scholars postulate that polarization is bad for democracy. Decades of research on voter turnout resulted in a vast accumulation of knowledge on the subject. However, scholars must pay greater attention to data collection and measurement strategies because the prevalent technique to quantify voter turnout artificially deflates participation rates. I take two paths to uncover the effects of partisanship on the decision to vote. From the micro perspective, I utilize a variety of partisanship measures based on survey data. From the aggregate perspective, I argue that calculating voter turnout based on the voting eligible population (VEP) is a superior measurement strategy to other techniques. I adoopt a VEP measure of voter turnout for state-wide races (1994-2010). The results suggest that polarization is an important factor that increases voter turnout at both the individual and aggregate levels. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Political Science 2016

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / I address state voter identification laws and test to see if they cause lower voter turnout. My hypothesis states a significance that voter ID laws have in determining voter turnout in each state’s election. The focus is on each of the fifty states elections and examines them from 2000 through 2016. With voter ID laws being the independent variable and turnout a control variable, the study was able to determine a statistical significance between the two. There is no readily available data table for voter ID laws, the table created will advance any further research done within voter ID laws.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis examines the use of ballot initiatives at the state level to determine whether the presence of certain types of ballot initiatives cause an increase in voter turnout at the state level. This study is unique in that rather than focusing on individual level voting behavior to explain why an individual may or may not be more likely to vote with the inclusion of ballot initiatives, I focus on aggregate level data to answer the following questions: do certain types of ballot initiatives have an effect on voter turnout? If so, how large is the effect? Collecting data from all ballot initiatives that appeared in the United States from 1998-2014, my research disputes the conventional wisdom that ballot initiatives have any effect on voter turnout during a presidential election. However, my research shows a four percent increase in turnout when any initiative appears on the ballot and a nearly five percent increase in voter turnout when an initiative concerning same-sex marriage appeared on the ballot during a non-presidential year election.

Past studies concerning the effects of economic conditions on voter perceptions have tended to generalize their findings to the entire national electorate. Such generalizations fail to account for the different ideologies, lifestyles, and economic conditions that exist from state to state. In the current study, I compare the effects of subjective financial evaluations with the effects of objective economic indicators on voter perceptions and turnout in the state of Mississippi. The purpose is to determine the extent to which past findings on the national level hold up on the state level, with Mississippi as the subject of analysis. Using data from the Mississippi Poll and employing a logistic regression method, the findings show that Mississippian‟s perceptions of political figures are more strongly influenced by subjective financial evaluations. Voter turnout, on the other hand, was more strongly influenced by objective economic indicators than personal financial satisfaction.

This paper investigates economic inequality and voter turnout in a sample of 21 industrialized democracies using a pooled time series model of elections from 1970 to 1999. The findings demonstrate a connection between inequality and voter turnout wherein increases in inequality lead to reductions in voter turnout. The ramifications for democratic accountability and representative democracy are discussed.

<p> The adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has marked a revolutionary change to our legal and political institutions and practices. While parliament used to have the final say in defining the details and limits of the rights of Canadians, the Supreme Court is now the ultimate arbiter of our rights as it has the authority to determine the meaning of the Charter and decide when legislation contradicts the letter and spirit of the Charter. The question of whether the entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the subsequent practice of Charter-based judicial review are beneficial developments to our political culture is the topic of this dissertation. I argue that entrenched Charters of rights in general, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in particular, are unnecessary in mature democracies which already have adequate institutions and practices which protect rights. My central claim is that Charters of rights and judicial review are not only unnecessary, but they are also fundamentally undemocratic; Charters and judicial review limit the ability of citizens, acting through their democratic representatives, to make important decisions concerning rights.</p> <p> First I explore Jeremy Waldron's rights-based critique of Charters of rights and judicial review to argue that Charters and judicial review are undemocratic and then defend Waldron's critique against three major arguments which claim that Charters and judicial review do not necessarily conflict with our commitments to democracy and might also be mandated by our democratic principles. Then I explore two major consequentialist arguments supporting Charters of rights and judicial review: the "tyranny of the majority" argument, and the institutional argument. I critique these two influential arguments and conclude that the fear of the "tyranny of the majority" is an exaggerated fear based on simplistic conceptions of "majorities" and "minorities" which does not recognize the limits of majority rule within a parliamentary democracy, while the institutional argument is based upon questionable assumptions of voter and legislative motivations and behaviour. Finally, I argue that Charters of rights and judicial review might subtly undermine our commitments to democracy by reinforcing unrealistic attitudes concerning rights and cynicism toward democratic politics. Furthermore, I argue that Charters of rights and judicial review imply that there are "correct answers" and moral expertise concerning rights debates which also undermine our commitment to democracy. Finally, I offer some democratic alternatives to Charters of rights and judicial review which could help protect rights without having the democratic illegitimacy of Charters and judicial review.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)