Turnout around the globe: The influence of electoral institutions on national voter participation, 1972-2000

Democratic theory suggests that a nation's electoral system should influence the level of voter turnout. However, the empirical evidence for this relationship is mixed. These weak findings are partially due to insufficient attention to measurement and sampling issues. Concerning measurement, many studies examine the percent of registered citizens that turn out to vote, a measure that unnecessarily distorts the effect of electoral system. Concerning samples, electoral systems will have a larger impact on turnout in more fully democratic countries, given that the vote itself is more meaningful in a full democracy. Taking into account these distinctions, electoral systems in fact have a strongly significant effect on turnout in fully democratic countries, while having relatively little effect in partially democratic countries. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.