Voter Turnout

Votes and Seats

Under PR nearly all votes are translated into seats whereas under plurality only those votes that are cast for winning candidates are converted into seats. Turnout rates where list proportional systems are used are approximately 8 percent higher under PR than under “First Past The Post” proportional systems. Under the latter category, voters generally have the least incentive to cast their ballots when a district is safe or undisputed.

Concerning the timing of the election, elections scheduled on the weekend frequently entice more people to vote than elections held on weekday. In those countries that have changed their election day from a weekday to a rest day in the past 60 years, turnout rates have increased by five or six percent.

Two secondary institutional factors, the frequency of elections and voter registration procedures, might also influence turnout rates. The frequent recurrence of elections can lead to voter fatigue, which may lead to lower voter turnout in elections. Voter registration procedures may also impact whether citizens vote or abstain in elections, as in many countries registration is a prerequisite for voting. Automatic voter registration—all citizens are automatically registered—facilitates voting for citizens and might be an indirect factor to increase turnout.

The combination of these institutional factors helps to explain higher voter turnout in some countries than in others. The low turnout rates in the United States (less than 50 percent in legislative elections) are the result of individual voter registration, frequent elections, plurality, and weekday elections. In countries such as Belgium or Australia, high turnout rates of 80 percent and above in the legislative elections are affected by compulsory voting, proportional representation, and weekend elections.

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