The determinant factors of voting: why compulsory voting is not the solution to electoral abstentionism

Abstract

A systematic review of the literature on the determinants of voting leads to classifying them as individual and contextual factors, which, in turn, can consist of demographic, psychological, macro-demographic, political and institutional variables. This analysis shows that, far from being a “natural act”, the action of voting has high costs for the potential voter. From this perspective, the abstentionist should not be demonized as a “bad citizen”. Furthermore, forcing citizens to vote in order to increase voter turnout could be counterproductive, since there is empirical evidence that compulsory voting produces less informed electoral decisions that deteriorates the quality of democracy. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21017/Rev.Repub.2019.v27.a73