Electoral Systems

DRAFT:The General Election in Costa Rica, February 2010

by Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Cordero

DRAFT: "The General Election in Costa Rica, February 2010". Forthcoming in: Electoral Studies, No. 30, March 2011, pp. 231-234 ((Elsevier Journals). doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2010.11.017. Bruce M. Wilson and Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Cordero.

On 7 February 2010, almost 2 million Costa Ricans (69% of the registered electorate) voted in the country’s general... more On 7 February 2010, almost 2 million Costa Ricans (69% of the registered electorate) voted in the country’s general election, the fifteenth consecutive general election to be held since the end of the short but bloody civil war of 1948. Laura Chinchilla was elected as Costa Rica’s first woman president but her Partido Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Party, PLN) fell short of a parliamentary majority and so will have to sustain agreements with other parties in the legislature in order to pursue its policy agenda.

Do Mixed Systems Encourage Voter Turnout? A Statistical Analysis

by Patrick Button

2008, Honours Paper, Department of Economics, University of Regina

Invisible Federalism and the Electoral College

by Derek Muller

draft, to be published in 44 Arizona St. L.J. __ (forthcoming 2012)

What role do States have when the Electoral College disappears? With the enactment of the National Popular Vote on the... more What role do States have when the Electoral College disappears? With the enactment of the National Popular Vote on the horizon and an imminent presidential election in which a nationwide popular vote determines the winner, States would continue to do what they have done for hundreds of years — administer elections. The Constitution empowers States to decide who votes for president, and States choose who qualifies to vote based on factors like age or felon status. This power of States, a kind of “invisible federalism,” is all but ignored in Electoral College reform efforts. In fact, the power of the States to distinguish between voters and non-voters precludes reform.

Such barriers to reform are both theoretical and practical. Theoretical because the Constitution is committed to a government in which the president represents all citizens of the States, voters and non-voters alike — and the maxim “one person, one vote” reinforces the notion that the president represents voters and non-voters. And the United States is not a single constituency in which one ignores States borders, but a number of smaller constituencies administering elections and determining voter eligibility. Practical because State decisions to enfranchise or disenfranchise a group of voters would no longer affect just that State, but would affect the national total — and States would have an incentive to manipulate voter eligibility laws to affect interstate vote totals. States would lower the voting age, disenfranchise felons, or redefine mental illness in order to add or subtract votes from a national vote tally. And any efforts to create a uniform federal standard for voting would stifle potential expansion of enfranchisement and inevitably disenfranchise some citizens who, today, have the right to vote. Presidential elections need States to continue to decide who votes, which precludes Electoral College reform.

The Rise and Fall of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party

by Robert J. Pekkanen

Mobilising the Youth Vote: The Future of British Democracy

by Jonathon Louth

Refereed paper (with Lisa Hill) presented to the Australasian Political Studies Association conference University of Newcastle, Australia, 25-27 September 2006

Despite the slight increase recorded at the 2005 poll, turnout at British national elections continues to be low. The... more Despite the slight increase recorded at the 2005 poll, turnout at British national elections continues to be low. The slight rise in turnout was driven by the increased voting participation of baby boomers whereas the youth vote dipped well below the fifty percent mark. This is worrying, not only because youth is a surrogate for other forms of social and economic exclusion, but also because it augurs ill for the future of British democracy.
Although the low voting turnout of the young was once dismissed as merely a life-cycle phenomenon, this no longer appears to be true with the early low participation habits of young people apparently becoming entrenched over time.
In Britain a number of reforms have been instituted to stem the tide of electoral demobilisation but none have been particularly successful. Since such piecemeal reforms seem unable to solve the problem, we recommend compulsory voting as the most reliable means of raising voting participation. And, as we show, compulsory voting has a good chance of being adopted in Britain due to its growing popularity with both policy makers and the public.

A Failure to Preference: UK and Electoral Reform

by Jonathon Louth

The Election Review, April, 2012

An edited version of this article appeared on The Daily Organ, April 4, 2012:
'The Power of Preferences: The UK... more An edited version of this article appeared on The Daily Organ, April 4, 2012:
'The Power of Preferences: The UK and the Alternative Vote: A missed opportunity…'
http://www.dailyorgan.com/2012/04/the-power-of-preferences/

The full and hyperlinked version is is available at the Election Review, April 10, 2012:
'A Failure to Preference: UK and Electoral Reform'
http://theelectionreview.com/a-failure-to-preference-uk-and-electoral-reform/

A Conceptual Framework for Major, Minor, and Technical Electoral Reform

by Kristof Jacobs

Il Bundesverfassungsgericht, il Parlamento europeo e la soglia di sbarramento del 5%: un (altro) ritorno del Sonderweg?

by Giacomo Delledonne

Published in "Rivista AIC" [Associazione italiana dei costituzionalisti], no. 1/2012 (14 March 2012).

The general election in Costa Rica, February 2010

by Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Cordero

Co-authored with Bruce M. Wilson. Published in "Electoral Studies".

On 7 February 2010, almost 2 million Costa Ricans (69% of the registered electorate) voted in the country’s general... more On 7 February 2010, almost 2 million Costa Ricans (69% of the registered electorate) voted in the country’s general election, the fifteenth consecutive general election to be held since the end of the short but bloody civil war of 1948. Laura Chinchilla was elected as Costa Rica’s first woman president but her Partido Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Party, PLN) fell short of a parliamentary majority and so will have to sustain agreements with other parties in the legislature in order to pursue its policy agenda.

White is Not a Colour: Chances of an Electoral Revolution in Russia

by Catherine Owen

Blog post published on ThinkIR website

Je možné využít Taageperova přístupu ke studiu účinků volebních systémů na jiné než národní úrovni voleb? / Is it possible to work with the Taageperian approach to the study of effects of electoral systems on other than national level of politics?

by Pavel Maškarinec

co-authored with Roman Chytilek; published in: Evropská volební studia, 2011, Brno : ISPO FSS MU, 6 (2): 137-148, ISSN 1801-6545.

This article tries to show the possibilities of application Rein Taagepera’s predictive logic for predicting the... more This article tries to show the possibilities of application Rein Taagepera’s predictive logic for predicting the number and magnitude of political parties on the sub-state level. Specifically, it seeks to explore the possibilities of predictions of three variables characterizing party systems at the regional level in Poland and Holland - number of seat-winning parties, seat share of the largest party, and effective number of parties. Results of research show that the most predicted values of these variables are outside the limits, that allow acceptance of the model. Results also show that the biggest problem of Taagepera’s concept is in setting of the one of the three indispensable features of the electoral systems - seat allocation  formula, or more precisely ‘formula exponent’. Our findings suggest that if we seek to adjust the value of formula, we would have to do this not only for each particular electoral system, according to its specific features, but also for each of variables, because one central value of the exponent would likely work for for individual variables in a different direction. The fact that it is probably not possible to find a one quantitative value for exponent of the seat allocation formula, which could be used for a larger group of countries, or even in the analysis within one country (on regional level), thus significantly reduces the overall predictive capacity of the Taagepera’s approach.

Preferences and Choices In First-Past-the-Post and Proportional Elections

by Indridi Indridason

To Adopt or Not to Adopt Proportional Representation: The Politics of Institutional Choice

by Indridi Indridason

A köztársaság megmentése

by Ferenc Ruzsa

Saving the republic

A viable solution to the constitutional problems of Hungary under the peculiar electorial system of 2012 A viable solution to the constitutional problems of Hungary under the peculiar electorial system of 2012

Voice and Trust in Parliamentary Representation

by Kris Dunn

Forthcoming in Electoral Studies.

In both social and political matters, individuals trust those they believe will treat them fairly. Individuals in... more In both social and political matters, individuals trust those they believe will treat them fairly. Individuals in democracies have little objection to abiding by policies instituted by parties they did not vote for because the system by which the parliament is formed is considered fair. However, even among democracies, some electoral systems are fairer than others. It stands to reason that trust in parliament is affected by the perceived fairness of the electoral system. This research demonstrates that actual or perceived provision of voice in parliamentary representation does increase individual trust in parliament. Systems designed with the intent to provide fair representation and those that provide the illusion of fair representation produce higher levels of trust in parliament.

Compulsory voting and turnout: The Australian case

by Jonathon Louth

Hill L. and Louth J. (2009) ‘Compulsory Voting and Turnout: The Australian Case’ in A. Begum, ed., Democracy and Elections: Cross Country Dimensions, Amicus Books, Hyderabad.

Compulsory voting laws and turnout: efficacy and appropriateness

by Jonathon Louth

Refereed paper (with Lisa Hill) presented to the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference
University of Adelaide, 29 September - 1 October 2004

This paper addresses some residual misunderstandings about the effects of compulsory voting and, in particular, the... more This paper addresses some residual misunderstandings about the effects of compulsory voting and, in particular, the effectiveness of compulsory voting laws as a mechanism to stimulate voting turnout. It also compares its efficacy with alternative turnout-raising mechanisms.

Some critics of compulsory voting refer to the minimal percentage difference of voter turnout between compulsory and voluntary voting electoral systems. We address studies in which the effectiveness of compulsory voting is either underplayed or miscalculated due to an inappropriate use of atypical cases or a methodological error known as the ‘ecological fallacy’. Specifically, treating all compulsory voting regimes as a synthetic group can give rise to inaccurate perceptions of the performance of individual regimes like Australia’s.

After canvassing a number of alternatives methods for raising turnout we suggest that, provided the setting is congenial, and provided it is accompanied by appropriate levels of enforcement and institutional support, compulsory voting is the only institutional mechanism that is able, on its own, to raise turnout into to the 90% range. Using a social norms approach we also suggest that turnout problems are best solved by mandatory means. There is a particular focus on the Australian case which is, arguably, the benchmark standard for compulsory voting performance.

Compulsory voting in Australia: Turnout with and without it

by Jonathon Louth

Louth J. and Hill L. (2005) ‘Compulsory Voting in Australia: Turnout With and Without it’, Australian Review of Public Affairs, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 25-37.

In this paper we address claims made by those supporting the abolition of compulsory voting about the relationship... more In this paper we address claims made by those supporting the abolition of compulsory voting about the relationship between turnout levels and compulsory voting. Via a critique of the methodology used, we query estimations of the effectiveness of compulsory voting laws and dispute common assertions about how high Australian turnout would be under a voluntary system. We then show that projected comparisons with places like Malta, New Zealand and The Netherlands are questionable. We also challenge other projections, that are based on data that has been insufficiently disaggregated. We conclude that when compulsory voting is properly administered in a congenial setting (such as Australia), it is the best means for guaranteeing high and socio-demographically equal rates of voting participation. Without it, Australian democracy would be experiencing the same citizenship crises currently being experienced in most other industrialised, voluntary voting settings.

Neo-madisonian theory and Latin American institutions

by Royce Carroll

With Matthew Shugart. In Regimes and Democracy in Latin America, Gerardo Munck, editor, Oxford, 2007

In this essay, we describe a conceptual framework for analyzing political institutions and party systems that we brand... more In this essay, we describe a conceptual framework for analyzing political institutions and party systems that we brand 'neo-Madisonian'. Neo-Madisonian theory integrates formal constitutional structure with an understanding of the incentives and context facing the actors charged with working within that structure. Using examples from Latin American presidential regimes, we argue that a neo-Madisonian approach has particularly contributed to our understanding of key features of political institutions, particularly the interaction between the separation of powers, delegation in democratic representation, and collective action among political actors

Sobre a Comunicação Político-Partidária na Internet: Um Estudo dos Informativos Digitais do PT e do PSDB / Political party communications on the Internet: a study of the digital newsletters of the PT and the PSDB

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Title in English: Political party communications on the Internet: a study of the digital newsletters of the PT and the... more Title in English: Political party communications on the Internet: a study of the digital newsletters of the PT and the PSDB. Text in Portuguese. Abstract in English available: The purpose of this work is to evaluate how Brazilian political parties use their newsletters distributed by e-mail, which are intended to provide opinion-forming information for citizens with access to the Internet. The main question here is how President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva s administration is characterized in two specific newsletters: the first, called Informes PT, produced by the leadership of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party) in the Chamber of Deputies; the second, called Diário Tucano, published by the leadership of the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democratic Party), which opposes President Lula's administration in Congress. At certain points, the argumentative dispute about certain issues extends beyond the floor of Congress, reaching the Internet through party websites and newsletters. The news and opinions set forth in the aforementioned newsletters is analyzed to ascertain to what extent these two main Brazilian parties use the Internet as another instrument to compete for citizens votes and political support. The main conclusion is that the conventional media (such as radio and television) still receives the major portion of attention and investment by Brazilian parties and their media consultants, who have yet to learn how to deal with a medium that can provide more interactive opportunities for political participation and discussion..