Search

The article focuses on the controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica's role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, specifically its use of data analytics and psychographic profiling. Topics include the firm's manipulation of voter data, the public backlash and legal actions that followed, and the broader concerns about the impact of microtargeting on democratic processes.

In response to alleged citizen distrust of politics and parties, recent reforms have made electoral systems more candidate-centred. Rational choice theory claims that candidate-centred voting should make voting more rewarding while incentivising candidates to increase their campaigning. Behaviouralists point to the higher number of options, which would lead to abstention. This study investigates the reforms in Bremen and Hamburg, where the simple, single-vote, closed-list PR system was replaced with a multiple-vote preferential-list PR system in 2011. Employing a difference-in-differences design, the study reveals a significant decrease in voter turnout of at least ten percentage points in Bremen, Bremerhaven, and Hamburg, compared to the trend in comparable German districts. A cross-level analysis of 79 election surveys fielded since 2000 in all of Germany, comprising 97,849 respondents, highlights that the reforms have widened the participation gap between the lower- and higher-educated Bremen and Hamburg citizens compared to elsewhere in Germany. These findings contribute to research on electoral systems, choice, and voter turnout, emphasising the potential adverse consequences that can emerge from complex electoral system redesigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correction notice addresses data errors in a study on the impact of wind speed on voting decisions, specifically in elections that feature prevention-focused and promotion-focused options. The errors affected the magnitude of estimates but did not change the primary research conclusion. Wind speed was found to influence voting decisions only when there was a regulatory focus distinction, with a statistically meaningful effect in favor of prevention-oriented campaigns. The study's findings remained consistent after corrections were made, and additional robustness checks were conducted to verify the results. [Extracted from the article]

Why do elected officials tend to be much older than most of their constituents? To understand the mechanisms behind the underrepresentation of young people in public office, we conducted two novel survey experiments in Japan. We asked voters in these experiments to evaluate the photos of hypothetical candidates while altering candidates' faces using age regression and progression software. Contrary to the observed age demographics of politicians, the voters in our experiments strongly disliked older candidates but viewed younger and middle-aged candidates as equally favorable. Voters saw young candidates as less experienced but also more likely to focus on many policy issues over a longer period, including education, childcare, climate change, anti-corruption measures, and multiculturalism. Young voters especially liked young candidates, suggesting that greater youth turnout could increase youth representation. Conversely, elderly candidates were universally panned, seen as the least competent, least likely to focus on most policy issues, and least electable. Voter biases thus do not seem to be a driving factor behind the shortage of young politicians. To the contrary, voters appear perfectly willing to cast their ballots for young candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the indicators of women's electoral participation in India, highlighting gender disparities in political engagement. Topics include the relationship between women's education levels and political participation, the role of media exposure in electoral involvement, and the rankings of states based on women's voter turnout and representation.

How does receiving remittances from abroad influence support for protest participation in origin democracies? Drawing on survey data from Latin America and the Caribbean, a region where social discontent quickly escalates and takes disruptive forms, it is found that remittance recipients do not vary from non‐recipients in their support for peaceful and legal modes of protest. However, compared to non‐recipients, those receiving remittances are more approving of citizens collectively acting outside of formal mechanisms or institutions, thus justifying unlawful and disruptive protest behaviour. Statistical analysis additionally reveals that support for violent protests among recipients is linked to their dissatisfaction with political parties and politicians, especially when these actors rely on patronage and clientelist exchanges to sway voter turnout. The article adds to our understanding of how migrants and the resources they send back home influence the character of political participation in developing democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the concept of proportional allocation of electors in presidential elections, offering a mathematical approach to distribute electors based on popular vote percentages. It discusses the potential benefits of this system, such as fairness, transparency, and increased voter engagement, while considering its impact on diverse groups and the political landscape. By analyzing past elections, the text demonstrates how proportional allocation could have influenced outcomes and highlights instances of unexpected elector behavior. The conclusion stresses the importance of structural electoral reforms for a more representative and inclusive political process. [Extracted from the article]

We examine the complex relationship between campaign spending and electoral outcomes in local elections. We focus on (1) how spending influences the distribution of votes across candidates; (2) its impact on voter turnout; and (3) the differential effects of different types of campaign spending. Using the case of Chile’s 2016 mayoral elections, a candidate-level dataset, and linear regression techniques, we estimate the impact of campaign spending on the share and dynamics of votes obtained. The study reveals that an additional investment of 50 cents per voter correlates with an average 5% increase in vote share as a proportion of elegible voters. This increase is attributed to a double effect: mobilizing new voters and attracting support from competitors. The disaggregated analysis shows that radio advertising is especially impactful for campaign dissemination. These results enrich the literature on electoral strategies, campaign finance dynamics and financing regulations in multi-party systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are voting is an under-researched area. In order to fill this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review with a focus on voter turnout and democratic inclusiveness among people with ID. In total, we found N = 9 studies that met our inclusion criteria, all of which were based on samples from Western countries such as Croatia, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and US. Our findings suggest that people with ID have substantially lower voter turnout than ordinary voters. Constraining factors for voting and other instances of democratic inclusion include educational limitations and physical obstacles at ballot places, as well as being under full guardianship. On the other hand, living in a household with a voter constitutes a facilitating factor. Because of the limited number of studies, we suggest that more basic quantitative and qualitative research in many countries ought to be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how the timing of local elections affects the success of minority candidates, who remain woefully underrepresented in public office. We build on research showing that concurrent elections narrow racial gaps in voter turnout and leverage changes in the timing of local elections in California. Our analysis shows that filling local offices in November of even years increases minority officeholding, at least for some groups. The results demonstrate how, when, and for whom election timing matters. Latinos gain most, potentially at the expense of White and, to a lesser degree, Black representation. An investigation of potential mechanisms suggests that these effects depend on group population size and the magnitude of the turnout changes. An increase in the number of co‐ethnic candidates running also appears to contribute to the representational benefits of on‐cycle elections. Finally, the effects are most pronounced during presidential elections, when turnout improvements are largest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of candidates disseminating fake news on voter behavior and electoral outcomes in highly competitive, partisan races. While the effects of fake news on electoral outcomes have been studied, research has yet to examine the impact of candidates' strategic use of fake news in elections where it may have the greatest impact—close races. This research explores whether the use of fake news influences voter support, particularly among independent voters, in tightly contested elections. Through a conjoint survey experiment involving participants from Amazon MTurk, this study analyzes how variables such as race competitiveness, perceived risk of alienating independents, and the presence of partisan labels affect voter responses to candidates who spread misinformation. The findings indicate that while the competitiveness of a race does not significantly enhance support for candidates sharing fake news, the presence of partisan labels does. These results suggest that voter behavior in response to fake news is more closely tied to partisan identity than to strategic electoral considerations. This study highlights the complex dynamics of misinformation in electoral contexts and its implications for democratic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Term limits are theoretically expected to boost voter participation which has been confirmed by multiple empirical examinations. This study uses a robust causal assessment within the difference-in-differences framework to evaluate this hypothesis. It leverages an exogenous 2018 term limit reform in Ecuador which prohibited some, but not all, incumbent mayors from running in elections. Contrary to expectations, the results indicate null findings: the adoption of term limits has neither increased turnout, nor depressed the casting of blank and spoiled ballots (alternative indicators of voter engagement under compulsory voting). This is puzzling given that the reform impacted the electoral competition by significantly increasing the number of mayoral candidates in the newly open-seat contests. Two possible solutions to the puzzle of the null findings are presented with implications for understanding the scope conditions for the effect of term limits on voter participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this article is to analyze spatial disparities in local electoral participation in Slovakia between 1994 and 2018 on a very detailed spatial structure of all (almost 3000) municipalities. To achieve this goal, methods of global and local spatial autocorrelation and spatial regression are used. Municipality‐level analysis, then, provides three main results. First, cartographic presentations provide spatial evidence of highly stable patterns of electoral participation in Slovak municipalities. In the long term, there was no substantial inter‐electoral change in the clustering of voter turnout in the different municipalities, except for an overall significant decline in the homogeneity of the clusters with low or high electoral turnout. Second, while there was some positive spatial autocorrelation of turnout between a concrete municipality and its surroundings, suggesting the existence of a contagion effect, this effect was not too strong and quickly waned with growing distance. Third, as especially the local elections in 2018 suggested that local political environment has its own dynamics that are increasingly independent of municipality size, a more detailed analysis of the local political context combining both quantitative and qualitative techniques should be a priority in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Top two primary systems have been touted to increase moderation in politics. In a top two primary, the two candidates with the most votes continue on to the general election even if they are from the same political party. Candidates no longer have to cater to the extremes of their party in order to make it through the primary, so the thought is that candidates would be encouraged to be moderate throughout the election cycle to attract the median voter. Methods: Washington State adopted a top two primary system in 2008, which allows us to look at empirical evidence about whether the top two primary actually encourages moderation in politics. We analyze voting records of elected officials before and after the adoption of the top two primary. Results: We find evidence that the top two primary correlates with moderation in the voting behavior of elected officials, ceteris paribus. Conclusion: Policymakers may want to consider the structure of primaries and how they could be changed to help encourage moderation in the voting of elected officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, scholars have observed that political parties' policy positions frequently fit the preferences of well‐to‐do voters better than those of the less well‐to‐do; a phenomenon known as policy congruence inequality. While the existence of inequality in policy congruence is well‐established, we currently only have a modest understanding of the causes of it. We develop an argument proposing that the political mobilisation of citizens with low socioeconomic status (SES) both in the parliamentary channel, in the form of high turnout, and in the extra‐parliamentary channel, in the form of high union density, is pivotal. Both high turnout and union density force parties to pay more attention to the preferences of the disadvantaged, thereby creating lower policy congruence inequality. To test the argument, we have collected and harmonised election surveys and party manifestos covering 90 elections in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, covering several decades until today, yielding more than 120,000 voter–party dyads. Employing this new dataset, our results confirm that the political mobilisation of citizens with low SES is a strong predictor of policy congruence inequality. This finding nuances the conclusion of extant research by showing that low‐SES citizens are not always on the losing side politically. It also implies the important role of maintaining or maybe even increasing turnout and union membership among the disadvantaged in society. Places where either turnout or union density is slipping in these years are likely to witness further increases in policy congruence inequality in the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Urban Affairs Review: A Retrospective on the 2010s" discusses the emergence of urban politics as a significant field of study and its relevance to understanding broader patterns in American politics. The authors highlight the importance of race in shaping the urban vote, with racial divisions being a key factor that outweighs class divisions. They also note the distinctiveness of the Black vote and the relevance of party and ideology in explaining voting patterns. The article emphasizes the value of studying urban politics for understanding national politics and addresses the unique institutional structures and limitations of local governments. The authors also mention the increased availability of data and its impact on the field of urban politics research. Overall, the article demonstrates the significance of urban politics in providing insights into American democracy. [Extracted from the article]

Among the many studied determinants of voting, we predict that i) increased social capital will be positively associated with turnout, while increased heterogeneity will be negatively associated; ii) both factors will work through their influence on the costs of information gathering and on the social norms of voting; and iii) that heterogeneity will interact with social capital in its association with turnout. We test these predictions at the extremely fine "meshblock" level by regressing New Zealand voter turnout in its 2017 national election on its 2013 census characteristics. We use roughly 40,000 meshblock volunteering rates to measure social capital, and heterogeneity based primarily on ethnic fragmentation. We find social capital is positively associated with voter turnout, while heterogeneity is negatively associated. We find robust evidence consistent with ethnic heterogeneity working through information costs and social norms, but less so social capital. We also find a robust interaction between social capital and heterogeneity in their association with turnout, consistent with ethnic heterogeneity raising bridging social capital that has a stronger association with turnout than in‐group bonding social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where a considerable volume of work has been spent looking at the effects of voter fatigue in multi-level democracies, few work has looked at Canada as a unique case. Leveraging the specificity of the Canadian federation – level-specific party systems and electoral cycles – we show that there exists a strong and significant voter fatigue effect such that electoral turnout is lower in early, 'snap' elections and increases as does the time in weeks between elections, wherever the level at play. This is particularly important given that the stochastic nature of provincial and federal elections in Canada induces Canadians to go to the polls frequently – perhaps in part explaining the country's turnout decline since the mid-1940s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2023 election in Poland brought to an end the rule of the Law and Justice (PiS) party. With an extraordinary turnout of 74%, the highest in recent Polish history, 13.2 million voters cast their vote in support of parties other than PiS, with four liberal-democratic parties alone attracting over 11.6 million votes. This shift indicates a departure from the period of selective demobilisation of the liberal-democratic camp and selective overmobilisation of the right-wing camp inclined to protect the traditional-religious world in decline. The campaign deviated from 'normal politics', focusing instead on the principles of constitutional democracy, as the 8-year PiS rule marked the erosion of the rule of law. The election itself, while free, was unfair and unequal, attributed to the actions of the outgoing political camp. Paradoxically, however, the camp responsible for these violations failed to secure enough support to form a government. The new government now faces a complex array of challenges. It must restore the constitutional order, manage two electoral campaigns (local and European), and rebuild relationships with the EU as a pivotal objective. It also faces the necessity to foster Western support for Ukraine, which requires careful navigation of domestic and international challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that Hispanic voters tend to be more politically engaged when Hispanic candidates are on the ballot. This study contributes to intercultural and political communication scholarship by considering how perceived candidate ethnicity, beliefs about candidates' commitment to Hispanic voters, and communication shape political engagement. Survey data (N = 424) from the 2018 Texas Senate election featuring Democrat Beto O'Rourke and Republican Ted Cruz, indicates that voter perceptions of candidate ethnicity and commitment to the Hispanic community likely shape political engagement, although this varies across candidates. Political talk enhances engagement and moderates the relationship between perceived candidate identity and engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the public health response to it on political behaviors. Using data on elections to the U.S. House of Representatives and leveraging cross-district variation in HIV/AIDS mortality during the period 1983–1987, we find that, beginning with the early 1990s, exposure to HIV/AIDS mortality increased the vote share, voter turnout, and contributions made to Democratic candidates. The increased support for Democrats is larger in competitive districts. The results are consistent with HIV/AIDS mortality impacting cultural attitudes and leading to broader and persistent changes in voting patterns and political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the political factors involved in the allocation of public investments into Turkish electoral districts. Using a unique data set covering detailed individual characteristics of approximately 2000 Turkish MPs over five legislative periods during 1987–2004, we show that the composition of several legislator characteristics in an electorate, such as the level of education, area of tertiary degree, and former profession, matters in the way pork barrel occurs across electorates. The findings also indicate a strong presence of partisan motivations and targeted support for opposition groups and ideological strongholds in public investment allocations. We also document evidence that a stronger right‐wing tendency in the cabinet, a single‐party government, fractionalized voter preferences, and higher voter turnout in the electorate are all associated with increased public investments into specific geographic constituencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that traditional voting models fail to fully explain the frequency of very close mass elections with high turnout. Instead, we model elections as a competition between incentive schemes to mobilize voters. We elucidate conditions under which parties might prefer close elections, as the potential to be pivotal motivates voters instead of exclusively costly incentives as in nonclose elections. We show that, under those conditions, better voter targeting results in tighter races and increased turnout. Furthermore, the smaller party often has a strong incentive to commit to strategies that ensure a close election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extension of voting rights is basic to political representation, but getting the newly eligible to the polls is also essential to representative politics. What are the factors that contribute to the mobilization of new voters? Study of the entry of women in electoral politics remains limited due to lack of appropriate data. However, in the case of Norway, as in several other countries, separate records were kept on women's eligibility and voting turnout. This paper examines how social factors may condition the influence of a major determinant of women's turnout, political party competition, in parliamentary elections immediately following their enfranchisement in the case of Norway. The study is conducted at the commune level and uses spatial tools of analysis. It takes place across (a) regions with different socio‐cultural and political attributes, (b) different franchise extensions to women by socioeconomic status, and (c) genders. Findings suggest that social context, that is, women's location in different socio‐cultural/political settings and socio‐economic status may condition the effects of political party competition on women's turnout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractQini curves have emerged as an attractive and popular approach for evaluating the benefit of data-driven targeting rules for treatment allocation. We propose a generalization of the Qini curve to multiple costly treatment arms that quantifies the value of optimally selecting among both units and treatment arms at different budget levels. We develop an efficient algorithm for computing these curves and propose bootstrap-based confidence intervals that are exact in large samples for any point on the curve. These confidence intervals can be used to conduct hypothesis tests comparing the value of treatment targeting using an optimal combination of arms with using just a subset of arms, or with a non-targeting assignment rule ignoring covariates, at different budget levels. We demonstrate the statistical performance in a simulation experiment and an application to treatment targeting for election turnout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ostracism—being ignored and excluded—has been shown to fuel threats to democracies, including increased willingness to engage in violent actions, endorsement of partisan falsehoods, and belief in political conspiracy theories. Recently, low social belonging has been linked with lower voter turnout and increased populist party support, thus illustrating how an individual's social experiences may prove consequential for political processes. Importantly, low levels of belonging may originate from social ostracism, as ostracized individuals are denied social partaking by others. In a registered report, we analyzed large survey data including reported voting behavior in the past national election from 11 European countries, and we found that ostracism is associated with lower voter turnout. Ostracism was not connected to populist party vote, irrespective of their ideological orientation (far‐left vs. far‐right). The findings highlight the need to better understand and consider how individuals' social experiences are relevant in safeguarding modern democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The connection between individual and macroeconomic conditions and voting behavior is well‐established. We contribute to the less resolved “spatial gap” in the literature that centers on how the localized economic conditions of where voters live influence their likelihood to vote. We test how space mediates the tension between voter mobilization and withdrawal in the face of economic shocks. We consider a scenario, the Great Recession, where economic shocks were quite localized and sudden, and compile an extensive dataset of all registered voters in the four‐county Tampa metropolitan area between 2006 and 2015. Using sales prices and property characteristics from the tax assessor rolls, we estimate a neighborhood‐level shock to housing values induced by the Great Recession. Results show that when we do not account for local neighborhood variation, the Great Recession is associated with a significant decrease in voter turnout. However, when we account for localized economic shocks, we find that residents in neighborhoods with negative price shocks were more likely to vote after the Recession, especially in non‐local elections. In addition, the propensity to vote increases with the size of the negative price shock. There is some evidence that variation at the neighborhood level matters more than voter‐level heterogeneity. The positive voting response is most profound in predominantly Black neighborhoods, and, to a lesser extent, in predominantly Hispanic and the lowest income neighborhoods. Increases in the propensity to vote are robust to models controlling for baseline economic vulnerabilities, such as localized unemployment, the weakness of the local housing market and exposure to sectors hit hardest by the Recession. The results indicate that dramatic and sudden changes in localized economic conditions can drive voting behavior, and in ways that are distinct from macroeconomic drivers. In addition, the housing asset channel appears to be a powerful one, which can induce significant voting responses at the national level apart from other localized economic drivers, especially among homeowners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women form a large part of the voting public in India. In the 2009 Indian National Election post-election survey, 82% of all adult women surveyed reported voting, but only 32% said that they were interested in politics. The paradox between high female turnout but low levels of interest has been noted in multiple developing country contexts, but the phenomenon is under-theorized. We suggest the reason is that women's ideas (interest in politics) are discouraged and suppressed by societal patriarchal norms enforced in the household, but women's bodies (their votes) are valued in competitive elections. We illustrate our argument using matched samples from two rounds (2009 and 2014) of the Indian National Election Survey and an original post-election survey in 2019. We find that women are consistently less likely to report either an interest in politics, or an opinion on political issues, if their spouse or an adult family member observes the interview. Our findings suggest that women's political agency is systematically under-estimated by researchers, and that women are more likely to assert themselves politically in survey contexts, if given the privacy to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2024 Indonesian general elections saw a significant influence from TikTok, with candidates utilizing the platform for campaigning. Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka were the most popular on TikTok, with their light-hearted and entertaining content resonating with voters. However, controversies surrounding Prabowo's past and Gibran's candidacy raised concerns about dynastic politics and the impact of social media on elections. TikTok's role in political campaigns has been observed in other countries as well, highlighting its growing significance in shaping electoral outcomes. [Extracted from the article]

This article aims to explain why participation in presidential elections increased among people who feared the risk of worsening COVID‐19 in Africa. The analysis is based on a sample of 16,890 people living in 34 African countries. Econometric results suggest that fear of the pandemic's escalation can reduce citizens' willingness to participate in presidential elections. However, this negative effect changes based on perceptions of government management of the pandemic. We show that the likelihood of voting in a presidential election increases significantly among those afraid of the pandemic's worsening with (i) a lack of confidence in government statistics on COVID‐19; (ii) perceived corruption related to the COVID‐19 pandemic; (iii) a lack of confidence in the government's ability to ensure the safety of COVID‐19 vaccines; (iv) perceived insufficient public investment in combating health emergencies; and (v) perceived insufficient intervention by law enforcement in enforcing COVID‐19 control measures. Related Articles: Onyango, Gedion, and Japheth Otieno Ondiek. 2022. "Open Innovation during the COVID‐19 Pandemic Policy Responses in South Africa and Kenya." Politics & Policy 50(5): 1008–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12490. Stockemer, Daniel. 2016. "Is the Turnout Function in Democracies and Nondemocracies Alike or Different?" Politics & Policy 44(5): 889–915. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12174. Stockemer, Daniel, and Stephanie Parent. 2014. "The Inequality Turnout Nexus—New Evidence from Presidential Elections." Politics & Policy 42(2): 221–45. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12067. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014, the EU introduced the lead candidate procedure to raise citizens' awareness and interest in the European Parliament (EP) elections and, thereby, voter turnout. We study the use of personalization, centralized personalization (focusing on lead candidates), emotional personalization, and private personalization on Facebook by political parties across 12 countries during the 2014 and 2019 EP campaigns and the effects of personalization on user engagement. A standardized quantitative content analysis of 14,293 posts by 227 political parties shows that about half of the Facebook posts were personalized, but there is no general trend of rising personalization. While emotional personalization increased, parties hardly ever posted about their lead candidates and their private lives. Variations are not due to structural (e.g., party and media systems) or geographical/cultural factors. Positive effects are found for the use of emotional personalization attracting a higher volume of user reactions (likes, reactions, shares, and comments) in both elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study whether competitive legislative districts cause higher voter turnout. To do so, we employ rich data on the 2006 to 2020 elections in North Carolina. We make use of variation in district competitiveness due to repeated bouts of redistricting, a process in which district boundaries are redrawn. Specifically, we compare people who share the same districts in each legislative chamber (U.S. House, NC Senate, NC House) before redistricting but who differ in districts after redistricting. We match these people on demographics, party registration, and pre-redistricting turnout. We then track their turnout behavior in post-redistricting elections. For the U.S. House, switching from an uncompetitive "80–20" district to a competitive "55–45" district increases turnout by a rate of 1 percentage point per election of exposure. For the state chambers, the magnitude is 0.6. Effects are highly persistent and sum across chambers. They appear to be explained in part by a learning channel, where living in a competitive district induces people to believe that races can be competitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Academic Inquiries / Akademik Incelemeler Dergisi is the property of Akademik Incelemeler Dergisi (Journal of Academic Inquiries) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Latin American Law Review is the property of Universidad de los Andes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Alternative Politics / Alternatif Politika is the property of Alternatif Politika and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of BMS: Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique (Sage Publications Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In an interview with California Congressman Ted Lieu, he discusses what individuals can do to reduce the risks of nuclear weapons and climate change. Lieu emphasizes the importance of contacting members of Congress and expressing concerns through meetings, emails, or social media. He also suggests writing letters to the editor and supporting organizations that advocate for change. While public pressure can be effective, Lieu acknowledges that it depends on the issue and the intensity of the pressure. He encourages individuals to continue pushing for change and educating members of Congress on the importance of these issues. [Extracted from the article]

This paper develops a model of voter turnout that embeds Riker and Ordeshooks (1968 Am. Pol. Sci. Rev. 62, 25-42 (doi:10.2307/1953324)) calculus of voting into the context of a social network. In the model, an individuals expressive benefits to voting depend on the behaviour of their social contacts. We show that there may be multiple equilibria and analyse how these equilibria depend on the structure of the network. We discuss six empirical implications of the model for turnout, some of which suggest novel answers to longstanding puzzles in the turnout literature, such as: why are higher income individuals more likely to vote even in cases when registration costs are low? Why is turnout so difficult to predict? Why does lowering registration costs disproportionately increase turnout among high-income voters? And why do we observe inertia in turnout across elections?