Thesis advisor: Shep R. Melnick / Almost half a century since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the most fundamental right in our democracy is still the most contested one. The recent photo identification requirements across the country remind us that discrimination still exists in our elections. The partisan interests at stake over these voter suppressive laws and the ever-present reality of racial gerrymandering are further evidence of that. This thesis examines the history of voting rights litigation since 1965 and discusses the recent tension between the courts and the Department of Justice with respect to their competing interpretations of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and their conflicting views on voter ID laws. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science Honors Program. / Discipline: Political Science .

We introduce an electoral pollster in a two-candidate costly voting model to study the incentives that pollsters have regarding the release of poll results. In our model, the pollster has private knowledge about the distribution of citizens\' preferences, but it may report false information to the public. If this happens, we say the pollster is misreporting the poll. An often heard criticism about pollsters is that they might manipulate in order to benefit some candidate. We show that they have incentives to misreport even in the absence of ideological motives. Moreover, misreported polls are welfare-improving relative to truthful polls. / Introduz-se um instituto de pesquisa eleitoral em um modelo de voto custoso a fim de estudar quais incentivos os institutos possuem ao divulgarem suas pesquisas. No nosso modelo, o instituto possui informação privada a respeito da distribuição de preferências da sociedade sobre os candidatos, mas pode escolher reportar incorretamente essa informação ao público. Se isso acontece, diremos que o instituto manipulou a pesquisa eleitoral. Uma preocupação comum das pessoas em relação aos institutos de pesquisa é a possibilidade de eles manipularem uma pesquisa eleitoral com o objetivo direto de beneficiar um determinado candidato. Nós mostramos que eles possuem incentivos para manipular a pesquisa mesmo na ausência de motivações partidárias. Ainda, essa manipulação aumenta o bem-estar da sociedade, em comparação com pesquisas verdadeiras.

by Tsui Shung-fat (Dennis). / Bibliography: leaves i-vii / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983

The purpose of this study is to examine two major psychological determinants of the vote in presidential elections - candidate image and party orientation. The central thesis of this study is that candidate image, as measured here, has been a greater determinant of electoral choice in the majority of presidential elections since 1952 than has party orientation. One of the vices as well as virtues of a democratic society is that the people often get what they want. This is especially true in the case of electing our leaders. Political scientists have often concentrated their efforts on attempting to ascertain why people vote as they do. Studies have been conducted focusing on the behavior of voters in making that important decision-who should govern?

So, King Pui. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-52). / Abstracts in English and Chinese; appendix II, III also in Chinese. / Cover Page --- p.1 / Abstract --- p.2 / Chinese Version --- p.3 / Acknowledgements --- p.4 / Contents --- p.5 / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.7 / Chapter 2. --- Definition and basic idea of Cumulative Voting --- p.9 / Chapter 3. --- Literature Review --- p.11 / Chapter 4. --- History and Development --- p.12 / Chapter 4.1. --- Around the world --- p.12 / Chapter 4.2. --- Cumulative voting in listed companies in China --- p.13 / Chapter 5. --- Hypothesis --- p.15 / Chapter 5.1. --- Nature of cumulative voting --- p.15 / Chapter 5.2 --- Relationship of corporate governance mechanism and tunneling in signaling the effect of cumulative voting --- p.18 / Chapter 5.2.1. --- Ownership characteristics --- p.18 / Chapter 5.2.2. --- Activeness of minority shareholders --- p.20 / Chapter 5.2.3. --- Legal framework --- p.21 / Chapter 5.2.4. --- Ownership nature --- p.22 / Chapter 5.2.5. --- Board of directors and supervisors --- p.22 / Chapter 5.2.6. --- Compensations of top executives --- p.23 / Chapter 6. --- Methodology --- p.24 / Chapter 6.1. --- Cumulative voting in the election of the board of director --- p.24 / Chapter 6.2. --- Ownership concentration and characteristics --- p.24 / Chapter 6.3. --- Legal framework --- p.25 / Chapter 6.4. --- Firm Operation Policy --- p.25 / Chapter 6.5. --- Ownership Nature --- p.25 / Chapter 6.6. --- Board of directors and supervisors --- p.26 / Chapter 6.7. --- Top Executives' compensations --- p.27 / Chapter 6.8. --- Operating performance --- p.27 / Chapter 6.9. --- Industry sectors --- p.28 / Chapter 6.10. --- Market firm value --- p.28 / Chapter 6.11. --- Event study approach --- p.29 / Chapter 6.12. --- Matched Propensity Scores Approach --- p.32 / Chapter 6.13. --- Top Executives' Pay-Performance Sensitivities --- p.34 / Chapter 6.14. --- Difference in differences approach --- p.35 / Chapter 7. --- Data --- p.39 / Chapter 7.1. --- Sources of Data --- p.39 / Chapter 7.2. --- Cumulative voting announcements and firm characteristics --- p.39 / Chapter 8. --- Empirical Results --- p.40 / Chapter 8.1. --- Short-term market response --- p.40 / Chapter 8.1.1. --- Event study --- p.40 / Chapter 8.1.2. --- Univariate test --- p.41 / Chapter 8.1.3. --- Multivate OLS regressions --- p.42 / Chapter 8.2. --- Long-term impact --- p.43 / Chapter 8.2.1. --- Matched Propensity Scores --- p.43 / Chapter 8.2.2. --- Top Executives' Pay-Performance Sensitivities --- p.44 / Chapter 8.2.3. --- Univariate test --- p.45 / Chapter 8.2.4. --- Difference in Differences regressions --- p.46 / Chapter 9. --- Conclusions --- p.47 / References --- p.49 / Table 1: Descriptive statistics for firms announcing the implementation of cumulative voting in the election of board of directors --- p.53 / Table 2: Descriptive statistics for firm characteristics --- p.54 / Table 3: Descriptive statistics for annual shareholders' meetings from 2002-2008 --- p.56 / Table 4: Cumulative abnormal returns for an event study of the information content of implementation of cumulative voting in election of board of directors announcements --- p.56 / Table 5: Abnormal returns for an event study of the information content of implementation of cumulative voting in election of board of directors announcements --- p.57 / Table 6: Descriptive statistics for firm characteristics --- p.57 / "Table 7: Mean comparison between above median/ ´ب´ب 1"" group and below median/ ""0"" group using t-test" --- p.59 / Table 8: OLS regression --- p.60 / Table 9: First stage Logistic Model --- p.62 / Table 10: Top Executives Pay-Performance sensitivities for salary and inside stock ownership --- p.64 / Table 11: Mean comparison between cumulative voting and straight voting group using t-test --- p.65 / Table 12: Difference in differences regressions (Corporate governance) --- p.66 / Table 13: Difference in differences regressions (Operating performance) --- p.67 / Table 14: Difference in differences regressions (Market firm value) --- p.68 / Appendix I --- p.68 / Appendix II --- p.71 / Appendix III --- p.72

Thesis (LL.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the LL.M. programme." Includes bibliographical references (l. [69]-75). Also available in print.

The purpose of the thesis is to identify relationships between economic factors and the probability to vote on populist parties. The results are in turn based on the populist parties’ outcome in the 2006 Swedish election to parliament. Parties below the 4 percent margin, prior to the election, which is the percentage point required to enter the parliament, are defined as populist parties. Furthermore, based on theoretical and previous empirical research, seven economic variables are chosen; disposable income, income distribution, municipal tax rate, unemployment and higher education. In addition to these five, are the number of crime incidents reported, and the share of people born outside of the European Union also included. Moreover, the study is conducted at a regional, or more explicitly, at a municipal level, implying that 290 observations are used for each variable, in a total of five regressions. These are performed to test the diversity of populist parties. The findings confirm that there are obvious relationships between the chosen variables and the probability of voting on populist parties, as the majority of the regressions explain 25 to 35 percent of the variation in the voting decision. These figures seem consistent, since ideological and factual issues are more important to populist party sympathizers. Nevertheless, the results show that when it comes to the economic variables - unemployment, education, disposable income and consequently the municipal tax rate are the ones which concerns people the most when voting on populist parties. Additionally, as the share of people born outside of the European Union increases, the probability of voting in favor of Sverigedemokraterna also increases. Finally, the growth of populist parties or of Sverigedemokraterna in particular, forces the conventional parties to adopt similar political standpoints in order to gain votes. Implying that if the present economic and political situation persists, populist parties’, especially Sverigedemokraterna’s policies will thrive in Swedish politics. / Avsikten med denna studie är att identifiera samband mellan ekonomiska faktorer och sannolikheten att rösta på populistpartier. Genomförandet är i sin tur baserat på 2006 års riksdagsvalresultat. Partier som innan valet befann sig under 4 procentsmarginalen definieras som populistiska partier. Grundat i tidigare forskning och teori, har sju ekonomiska variabler valts; disponibel inkomst, inkomstfördelning, kommunskatt, arbetslöshet och högre utbildning. Förutom dessa fem, är även antalet anmälda brott och andelen människor födda utanför den Europiska Unionen inkluderade. Vidare utförs studien på regional, närmare bestämt kommunalnivå, där 290 observationer används för varje variabel, i totalt fem regressioner. Detta med syfte att testa populistpartiers mångfald. De empiriska resultaten bekräftar att det finns uppenbara samband mellan de valda variablerna och sannolikheten att rösta på populistpartier, då en majoritet av regressionerna förklarar 25 till 35 procent av variationen i röstningsavgörandet. Dessa siffror verkar stämma överens med verkligheten, eftersom ideologi och sakfrågor är viktigare för populistpartianhängare. Gällande de ekonomiska variablerna är det arbetslösheten, utbildningsnivån, disponibla inkomsten och kommunalskatten som påverkar människor mest när de röstar på populistpartier. Det visar sig även att när andelen människor födda utanför den Europiska Unionen ökar, ökar även sannolikheten att man röstar på Sverigedemokraterna. Till sist, tillväxten av populistpartier, speciellt av Sverigedemokraterna, har på senare tid tilltagit, vilket leder till att de konventionella partierna måste anamma likartade politiska ståndpunkter för att kunna få fler röster. Innebärande att om den rådande ekonomiska och politiska situationen består, kommer populistpartiers och i synnerhet Sverigedemokraternas riktlinjer att i framtiden få ett mycket större utrymme i den svenska politiken.

The 2011 Saskatchewan Election saw a landslide victory for The Saskatchewan Party. They also achieved this victory during a time in which the province was experiencing economic revitalization. Past studies have suggested that incumbents are rewarded for good economic times. As such, the 2011 Saskatchewan election provides for a good case study that aims to understand if perceptions of the economy influenced Saskatchewan residents vote choice at that time. Using data collected from the 2011 Saskatchewan Election Study, this thesis has found that retrospective sociotropic and egocentric perceptions of the economy did have a small direct role in influencing vote choice during the election. However, this thesis also found that once leadership opinions of Brad Wall were added to the statistical analysis these perceptions became insignificant. Interestingly, the same economic perceptions were found to make up a part of Wall’s leadership evaluation. With leadership evaluations being the largest determinant of vote choice, this thesis found that economic perceptions did play a role in the 2011 Saskatchewan Election, albeit in a roundabout way.

Do the physical settings in which a voter casts their ballot affect their vote choices? Every state uses a variety of polling locations for the administration of election: churches, schools, libraries, fire stations, and etcetera. The literature on priming effects and voting is massive, but very little research examines the impact of the venue in which a ballot is cast has on voters’ decisions. In this study I argue that polling venues situated on church, school, or veteran’s association property influences the proportion of votes cast in favor of ballot measures related to each institution. I test these hypotheses using precinct level election results and population data from California’s 2008 general election and find results supporting, or suggesting, such a relationship.

What role does political knowledge play in campaigning for and participation in direct democracy? A foundational principle of democracy is citizen participation in decision-making. This foundation assumes that citizens are at least somewhat knowledgeable about government and able to make informed choices. This analysis examines the role that meaningful decisions play in direct democracy, because “for voters to make meaningful decisions, they must understand the options on which they are deciding” (Dalton 1988: 13). This analysis uses three different methodologies to investigate this relationship. First, through qualitative analysis and a mail survey of petitioners, this study explores how petitioners view and approach the public. This study finds that expectations of political knowledge affects how petitioners approach the public and how much time they spend educating the public about their initiative. Second, through statistical (multi-level regression) analysis, this study investigates the impact of the ballot language on participation in individual ballot propositions. This study finds that ballot language is a significant barrier to participation. Third, through experimental analysis, this study connects measures of political knowledge and participation on ballot propositions written by petitioners across the country. This study finds that when confronted with more difficult ballot language voters are less likely to participate. However, when controlling for political knowledge this effect is truncated. The findings of this analysis argue the elite bias of direct democracy in ballot language, accessibility, and motives of petitioners. The study of participation in direct democracy and political knowledge across American states advances the theoretical understanding of democratic participation, and furthers our understanding of the role citizen political knowledge plays in policymaking.