The Electoral College System, Political Party Dominance, and Voter Turnout, With Evidence from the 2004 Presidential Election

Richard Cebula () and Holly Meads

Atlantic Economic Journal, 2008, vol. 36, issue 1, 53-64

Abstract: Within the context of a broadened version of the “rational voter model,” this study empirically investigates a hypothesis that asserts that within the context of the Electoral College System, the greater the degree to which either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party dominates the other in any given state, the lower the aggregate voter participation rate in that state. Using the 2004 Presidential election as the study period, the analysis includes a number of economic and demographic variables. Using a different methodology than previous studies of voter turnout and the Electoral College System, as well as more current data, this study finds strong empirical evidence for the hypothesis. It also is suggested that, logically, the Electoral College System distorts the pattern of voter turnout across states. Copyright International Atlantic Economic Society 2008

Keywords: Voter turnout; Political party dominance; Electoral college; D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1007/s11293-007-9089-3

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