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Everyone Likes a Winner: An Empirical Test of The Effect of Electoral Closeness on Turnout in a Context Of Expressive Voting

Ashworth, J.; Geys, B.; Heyndels, B.

Authors

B. Geys

B. Heyndels



Abstract

Under instrumental voting closer elections are expected to have higher turnout. Under expressive voting, however, turnout may increase with decreasing closeness when voters have a preference for winners. An empirical test using data on Belgian municipal elections supports this. We find that turnout reaches a local maximum when the largest party in the election obtains just over 52% of the seats and then falls (supporting the “instrumental” closeness-argument). There is, however, another turning point: the presence of a highly dominating party (receiving at least two-thirds of the votes) stimulates turnout despite the fact that dominance implies lower closeness.

Citation

Ashworth, J., Geys, B., & Heyndels, B. (2006). Everyone Likes a Winner: An Empirical Test of The Effect of Electoral Closeness on Turnout in a Context Of Expressive Voting. Public Choice, 128(3-4), 383-405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-005-9006-8

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Sep 1, 2006
Deposit Date Apr 20, 2010
Journal Public Choice
Print ISSN 0048-5829
Electronic ISSN 1573-7101
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 128
Issue 3-4
Pages 383-405
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-005-9006-8
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1521106