2002
sppq best paper award winner
RAYMOND E. WOLFINGER
University of California, Berkeley
BENJAMIN HIGHTON
University of California, Davis
MEGAN MULLIN
University of California, Berkeley
How Postregistration
Laws Affect the Turnout of Citizens Registered to Vote
A well-established scholarly
tradition links lower voting costs with higher turnout. Whereas previous
research emphasized the costs imposed by requiring voter registration, our
research assesses postregistration costs and state policies that can make
it easier for registered citizens to vote. These policies include mailing
each registrant a sample ballot and information about the location of his
or her polling place, providing a longer voting day, and requiring firms
to give their employees time off to vote. Using the 2000 Voter Supplement
to the Current Population Survey, we find that all but the last of these
provisions enhance turnout, especially by the young and the less educated.
Compared to a state that does none of these things, the estimated turnout
of high school dropouts is nearly 11 percentage points higher in a state
with these "best practices"; their effect on young registrants
is nearly 10 points. Because African American and Latino registrants are
disproportionately younger and less educated, they would benefit disproportionately
from universal adoption of such postregistration laws. We estimate that
if every state adopted these best practices, overall turnout of those registered
would increase approximately three percentage points.
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