Opening Hours of Polling Stations and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Niklas Potrafke and Felix Rösel
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Felix Roesel

No 257, ifo Working Paper Series from ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich

Abstract: Voter turnout has declined in many countries, raising the question of whether electoral institutions increase voter turnout. We exploit an electoral reform in the Austrian state of Burgenland as a natural experiment to identify the causal effect of polling station opening hours on voter turnout. The results show that a 10 percent increase in opening hours increased voter turnout by some 0.5 to 0.9 percentage points. The reform also influenced party vote shares. The vote share of the conservative party decreased in the course of the reform, while the vote shares of the other three main parties increased. Conservative voters tend to have an especially strict sense of civic duty and would have participated in the election in any event. Simulations indicate that parliamentary majorities in previous elections would have changed under extended opening hours in favor of the social democratic party. The opening hours of polling stations probably play a more important role in political strategies than recognized to date.

JEL-codes: D02 D72 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Opening hours of polling stations and voter turnout: Evidence from a natural experiment (2020)
Working Paper: Opening hours of polling stations and voter turnout: Evidence from a natural experiment (2020)
Working Paper: Opening Hours of Polling Stations and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Natural Experiment (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ifowps:_257

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