JAMES M. AVERY
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
MARK PEFFLEY
University of Kentucky
Voter Registration
Requirements, Voter Turnout, and Welfare Eligibility Policy: Class Bias
Matters
The 1990s saw some of the most
dramatic changes in the American social welfare system in recent decades
at both the national and state levels. In particular, states were granted,
and took advantage of, much wider latitude in deciding who is eligible to
receive welfare benefits. To what extent did the composition of a state's
electorate influence the restrictiveness of the welfare eligibility requirements
it adopted at this time? We find that in states where lower-class voter
turnout was comparable to that of the upper class, lawmakers were less likely
to pass restrictive welfare eligibility rules. We also find that electorates
in states with restrictive voter registration laws are much more likely
to be biased toward upper-class turnout. Thus, lower-class voter mobilization
can affect the ability of the disadvantaged to achieve policies consistent
with their interests, but state voter registration laws pose a substantial
barrier to such mobilization.
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