Abstract
Municipal elections across the United States have much lower voter turnout rates than elections at the state and federal level. Despite this, municipal elections are still understudied phenomena. Existing research shows that voter turnout rates in American elections are impacted by the institutional confines in which they are held. This study seeks to further our understanding of local elections by examining how electoral system designs impact voter turnout rates in large American cities. This study also seeks to understand the effects of other municipal institutions and measures of electoral competition on voter turnout rates. Election statistics, demographic data, and categorizations of municipal election structures are used to develop a cross-sectional time-series dataset comprised of observations from 37 cities between 1995 and 2014. By employing a series of generalized least squares random effects models, variations in voter turnout at the mayoral and city council level are examined. The results of this study confirm the hypothesis that variations in electoral system designs impact voter turnout rates in municipal elections. In addition, the results show that two Progressive Era reforms-off-year elections and reformed government structures-continue to have a negative impact on voter turnout. However, the results show that the use of nonpartisan ballots does not impact voter turnout. Finally, this study shows that electoral competition has a moderate effect on turnout in mayoral contests but little effect in city council elections. Overall, institutional arrangements were a greater predictor of voter turnout than the competitiveness of the election. These findings augment our understanding of how municipal institutions and electoral system designs operate and the impacts they have on voter participation in local elections.
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