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Might Cleaning Up Elections Keep People Away from the Polls? Historical and Comparative Perspectives

Department of Political Science, E53-435, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, ma 02139, USA schaffer{at}mit.edu

Many democracies in the developing world have enacted reforms to make their elections cleaner. It is often assumed that such reforms will make elections more participatory. The reality, however, is that we know little about the consequences of current reform efforts on voter turnout. In examining both historical and contemporary cases, this article identifies three mechanisms by which clean election reform today might actually keep potential voters away from the polls: legal disfranchisment, cutting out the go-between, and buying abstention.

Key Words: Disfranchisement • Electoral reform • Secret ballot Turnout • Voter registration

International Political Science Review, Vol. 23, No. 1, 69-84 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/0192512102023001004


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