Article(electronic)December 15, 2021

Driving turnout: the effect of car ownership on electoral participation

In: Political science research and methods: PSRM, Volume 11, Issue 3, p. 654-662

Checking availability at your location

Abstract

AbstractInequalities in voter participation between groups of the population pose a problem for democratic representation. We use administrative data on 6.7 million registered voters to show that a previously-ignored characteristic of voters—access to a personal automobile—creates large disparities in in-person voting rates. Lack of access to a car depresses election day voter turnout by substantively large amounts across a variety of fixed-effects models that account for other environmental and voter characteristics. Car access creates the largest hindrance to voting for those people who live farther from the polls. These effects do not appear for absentee voting, suggesting a simple policy solution to solve large disparities in political participation. This study contributes to the theoretic understanding of political participation as well as the impact of potential policy reforms to solve participatory gaps.

Languages

English

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

ISSN: 2049-8489

DOI

10.1017/psrm.2021.67

Report Issue

If you have problems with the access to a found title, you can use this form to contact us. You can also use this form to write to us if you have noticed any errors in the title display.