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A General Model of Abstention Under Compulsory Voting*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2016

Gabriel Katz  and
Ines Levin
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Abstract

Invalid voting and absenteeism are alternative sources of abstention under compulsory voting. Previous research failed to systematically study the mechanisms behind each form of non-voting and the relationships between them. We develop an analytical framework and an empirical strategy to jointly examine invalid voting and absenteeism in Brazil, the world’s largest democracy with mandatory voting. Using Bayesian inferential methods and analyzing both individual and district-level data, we show that less educated and politically knowledgeable citizens are less likely to vote and, when they do, they are typically unable to successfully complete their ballot. Unlike absenteeism, invalid voting also has a political dimension reflecting voters’ disenchantment with elections and democratic performance. Both sources of abstention coexist and, together, undermine electoral participation.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Political Science Research and Methods , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , July 2018 , pp. 489 - 508
Copyright
© The European Political Science Association 2016 

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Footnotes

*

Gabriel Katz is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Politics, University of Exeter, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4QJ (G.Katz@exeter.ac.uk). Ines Levin is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of California, Irvine, 3151 Social Science Plaza B, Irvine, CA 92697 (i.levin@uci.edu). The authors gratefully acknowledge the editor’s and reviewers’ helpful suggestions, and thank Timothy Power for sharing his data set on Brazilian elections. Katz’ contribution was partly supported by a British Academy grant (Skills Innovator Awards 2015–2016). To view supplementary material for this article, please visit https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2016.49

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