Citizens Vote Research Articles

Comparing Methods for Estimating Demographics in Racially Polarized Voting Analyses

We consider the cascading effects of researcher decisions throughout the process of quantifying racially polarized voting (RPV). We contrast three methods of estimating precinct racial composition, Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG), fully Bayesian BISG, and Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP), and two algorithms for performing ecological inference (EI), King’s EI and EI:RxC using eiCompare. Using data from two different elections we identify circumstances in which different combinations of methods produce divergent results, comparing against ground-truth data where available. We first find that BISG outperforms CVAP at estimating racial composition, though fully Bayesian BISG does not yield further improvements. Next, in a statewide election, we find that all combinations of methods yield similarly reliable estimates of RPV. However, county-level analyses and results from a non-partisan school board election reveal that BISG and CVAP produce divergent estimates of Black preferences in elections with low turnout and few precincts. Our results suggest that methodological choices can meaningfully alter conclusions about RPV, particularly in smaller, low-turnout elections.

The 1991 Constituent Process of as an Example of Deliberative Democracy

The 1991 c o n s t i t u e n t process incorporates various elements from the social context of the time, both institutional and non-institutional. These include the “Séptima papeleta” movement, which played a decisive role when the Supreme Court of Justice and other authorities adopted the proposals from this and other movements. These proposals aimed to achieve institutional changes through constitutional reform, which was not feasible under the existing mechanisms of the 1886 National Constitution. To promote this objective, social actors employed constitutional theory concepts, such as the primary constituent, and utilized participation mechanisms to facilitate interaction between state and non-state actors. These rules of argumentation were not limited to the exercise of the citizen vote, which, while essential, was insufficient on its own to ensure full participation from all members of he debate. The principle of one person, one vote was inadequate to change the existing order. The construction of dialogue spaces outside of legislative authority became necessary for the actors to achieve institutional change through the formation of a National Constituent Assembly. This assembly applied delibera t ive democracy principles, which are reflected in the 1991Political Constitution.

Political Personalization And Polyarchic Systems: The Opening To Representativeness?

This paper represents an analytical resource of the phenomenon of political personalization in electoral campaigns, from the accommodation of political forces in polyarchic systems. In this way, it is based on Robert Dahl's proposal by considering that democratic government systems are, rather, polyarchies and that a multitude of interests, starting points and political forces converge in them that have led to a kind of re-understanding. of the relationship of candidates and political parties in order to continue to be valid in the political arena and win the citizen vote. The central thesis of the paper is that political personalization should not only be understood as the maximization of the personal attributes of those who aspire to win electoral contests, but also as a result of the loss of partisan identities in an increasingly plural and diverse sociopolitical context. . Therefore, the main objective of the document is to establish an analytical route that favors the understanding of political personalization as a result of a complex network of political circumstances that have promoted electoral campaigns that tend to maximize personal qualities and attributes within the framework of polyarchic systems.

There is no capitalist conspiracy and the rich are not all‐powerful

There is no capitalist conspiracy and the rich are not all‐powerful

Организационные особенности многодневного голосования на выборах в России

Introduction. Elections are the most important indicator of the socio-political development of the state, the criterion of the country’s democratic regime and its strategic course. Elections are one of the most mass processes, which is not limited to voting, it is a wide set of social relations that begins long before the appointment of elections and does not end with the fact that citizens vote. The introduction of multi-day voting introduced a large number of organizational features, the implementation of which affects the assessment of the election campaign as a whole. Theoretical analysis. The organizational features of multi-day voting include: the implementation of various forms of voting and the possibility of alternating them on one election day, ensuring the safety of ballots, video surveillance and video recording, features of counting votes, etc. All these electoral actions and procedures require the implementation of mandatory rules and are subject to the mechanism for implementing the fundamental principles of objective electoral law, which are based on the principles of objectivity, fairness and openness. Empirical analysis. The content of the organizational mechanism for conducting voting over several days is associated with the implementation of the rules for the use of stationary and portable boxes, ballot processing complexes, drawing up a list of voters, a register for voting outside the polling station, the implementation of an additional form of voting, moving ballots into safe packages, sequence of counting the votes of voters and determining the results of voting. The question arises: Can inaccuracies in the implementation of these features affect the voting results in a particular precinct? Results. The analysis of the content of the Federal Law “On the Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in a Referendum of Citizens of the Russian Federation” indicates the legal consolidation of the grounds for recognizing both voting and elections as invalid. Among such grounds, there are cases when violations committed during the conduct of voting or the establishment of voting results do not allow to reliably determine the results of the expression of the will of voters. However, the law does not specify which violations can be recognized as such. Practice shows that violations of one degree or another occur during the conduct of any elections and in any countries. Absolutely “pure” elections do not exist, since elections are a political struggle. Consolidation of actions, that affect or do not affect the expression of the will of voters, at the level of law will help reduce the number of provocative complaints that have little reason and contribute to the destabilization of the situation while organizing and conducting elections.

The Extraterritorial Voting Rights and Restrictions Dataset (1950–2020)

This paper introduces the Extraterritorial Rights and Restrictions dataset (EVRR), the first global time-series dataset of non-resident citizen voting policies and procedures. Although there have been previous efforts to document external voting, no existing data source simultaneously captures the scale (195 countries), time frame (71 years), and level of detail concerning extraterritorial voting rights and restrictions (over 20 variables). After a brief overview of prior datasets, we introduce EVRR coding criteria with a focus on conceptual clarity and transparency. Descriptive analysis of the dataset reveals both the steady expansion of extraterritorial voting as well as several regional and temporal trends of voting rights restrictions. Finally, we revisit and extend the work of two groundbreaking cross-national studies focused on the causes and effects of external voting rights. Using EVRR data we demonstrate that including more fine-grained aspects of extraterritorial voting provisions in these analyses improves understanding of important political and economic outcomes.

FEATURES OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN SWITZERLAND: POLITICAL AND LEGAL ANALYSIS

The tools of realization of direct democracy in Switzerland are considered. The Swiss political system, levels of government and distribution of powers between institutions are analyzed. Emphasis is placed on the fact that direct democracy allows the population to directly influence important decisions at all levels. Swiss citizens have the opportunity to vote on their own through a popular initiative and a referendum, which is optional and mandatory. The historical principles of development of instruments of direct democracy are considered. Assumptions are made about possible risks and shortcomings in the process of implementing direct democracy. The point is that extreme right-wing forces may abuse the instruments of democracy to amend existing legislation. The goal is to promote politicians' own interests. With the help of political technologies, in particular the use of populist slogans, inaccurate statistics and false facts, the leaders of radical parties manipulate the opinion of citizens, inciting them to put forward certain projects to national referendums. The assumption is substantiated that the vote of citizens can lead to the tyranny of the majority. Legislation and responsibility of citizens minimize the risk of such a scenario. The political and legal bases for the use of direct democracy in Switzerland are analyzed. Comparing the advantages and risks of decision-making with such a system, it is concluded that it is optimal for today. The focus of Switzerland's direct democracy is a compromise dialogue between citizens and the authorities. The draft law «On Local Referendum» № 5512 was considered. Its purpose is to return to the citizens of Ukraine the constitutional right to independently resolve issues of local significance by the territorial community by direct vote. Suggestions for improving the content of this bill have been formulated. We are talking about: the expediency of dividing referendums into types; analysis of the percentage of turnout when considering issues of local importance, increasing the number of questions for voting, etc. It is noted that in order to successfully use the Swiss experience in Ukrainian society, these proposals require broad discussion with the involvement of political scientists and lawyers, awareness of their own responsibility to politicians and the public.

The electoral behaviour of voters with migration backgrounds and natives at the 2015 and 2019 Swiss National Elections. Two completely different stories?

AbstractThere is emerging understanding in the literature that voters who have a migration background across Western countries tend to vote for left leaning parties. Yet little is known about whether this implies different drivers of vote choice for citizens with migration background in comparison to natives. This article intends to respond to this question by studying the impact of specific policy issue considerations on the vote of citizens with both migration and non‐migration background. To do so, we focus on the 2015 and 2019 Swiss National elections, relying on data from the SELECTS post‐electoral studies. Our analyses show that, while Swiss natives' voting choices are consistently affected by key political issues (i.e., foreigners' job market integration and the environment respectively), non‐native voters are generally less driven by the main topics discussed at each election, although relevant differences emerge across different migrant backgrounds.

Influence of personality traits on people's satisfaction with public service in Hanoi city, Vietnam

The quality of public services is concerned and improved to meet the satisfaction of the people, which has made governments more aware of the need to provide public services according to the needs and preferences of the public. Most of the previous studies used qualitative methods to assess people's satisfaction with public services. The authors use a quantitative research method to explore the quality of public services in Vietnam using the Servqual model and explore the relationship between personality traits and satisfaction with public services. The study was conducted in OSS rooms in Hanoi city, Vietnam in June 2021, using the intentional sampling method. Collect data through survey of 500 votes, of which 350 valid votes of citizens. The results of analysis by SEM model show that all 5 elements of personality traits: Openness, Dedication, Neuroticism; psychic; Greablenes has a positive and significant influence on the remaining 5 factors through 2 coefficients, Regression Weights and P-value, both have reliable values. The conclusion of this study provides valuable data for Government policymakers.

Advance voting and political competition

This paper appears to be the first to analyse political campaign incentives when the electorate vote at different moments before Election Day, a phenomenon known as early or advance voting. Many jurisdictions accommodate such voting by accepting mail-in ballots or by opening polling places before Election Day. Since politicians can thereby add campaign promises while citizens vote, they have an incentive to add promises valued by late-voting segments as Election Day approaches. This implies that early-voting segments of the electorate will pay higher taxes and receive lower transfers than had been announced when they voted. Late-voting segments benefit.

Politik Klientelisme di Pemilu Serentak 2019

Money politics cannot be separated from the constellation of elections in Indonesia. There is no election without money politics in it. To get votes, all parties are competing to use all means, be it the dawn attack of money politics before the election. It is impossible for a candidate to run for office not to use a penny even because it is no longer a public secret that without having a lot of money, he cannot escape running for government representatives. Gellner & Waterbury, Patrons, and Clients in the Mediterranean Societies said money politics exists in a society that is patron-client when groups in power or certain privileges give money or other gifts in return for the loyalty of their followers (clients). This of course applies to elections in Indonesia, not only reciprocation for voting but guaranteeing the votes of citizens because the public usually remembers the giving of candidates as the time approaches the election. For this reason, there have been many dawning attacks on money politics in Indonesia. This article will describe real-world examples of money politics during the 2019 election and cases of money politics that occurred in society. The impact of money politics on democracy and future recommendations for the government.

Multifactor authentication technique for a secure electronic voting system

Security of information is an important factor in an electoral process in a country. Recent pervasiveness of digitalisation in every aspect of human endeavour has evolved a drastic change in the voting process of democratic decision making. The shift from the existing conventional voting systems to electronic voting system will enable faster, convenient and more reliable means of franchising citizen's voting rights even in remote voting centres. But the problem of voters' authentication and protection from malicious attacks remains dominant. In this paper, we have used a multi-factor authentication technique using fingerprint biometrics and enhanced cryptographically secured smart card to provide a more secure e-voting system's authentication. The technique involves the combination of an enhanced Feistel block cipher and first moment feature extraction technique. The results obtained from experimental simulation shows the viability of the developed technique to avert common problems encountered in voters' authentication during the electioneering process in a digitally divided democratic environment.

Review: The Great Migration and the Democratic Party: Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century, by Keneshia N. Grant

Review: <i>The Great Migration and the Democratic Party: Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century</i>, by Keneshia N. Grant

Do Citizens Vote for Parties or Policies? Evidence from Israel

This paper measures the relative importance of party platforms versus expected policy outcomes in the voting decisions of individuals in a proportional representation (PR) system. It uses survey pre-electoral data from the 2006 Israeli elections. This survey is critical as it provides a set of questions on perceived likelihood and support for different potential coalitions that is unique in its richness and scope I find that the proportion of policy voters is slightly below 10\%. This is smaller than the proportion found in previous studies. The key to explaining this difference is the fact that this paper uses individual subjective perceptions about party platforms and likelihood of the different coalitions. Critically, it is shown that the inclusion of such subjective perceptions in the model improves the fit. Finally, there seems to be no correlation between policy voting and sociodemographics.

Why Do Citizens Vote Against Their Basic Political Values?

AbstractThe literature on correct and consistent voting has focused on issue‐opinions and argument‐positions when examining whether vote decisions correspond to individual political preferences. However, the question whether vote decisions align with basic political values has largely been neglected so far. This paper introduces a novel measure named value consistent voting. It finds that, in Switzerland, around 25% jettison their basic political values when deciding on proposals. Using multilevel regression analysis of survey data, this paper investigates the determinants of value consistent voting. Three theoretical approaches are tested; the sophistication, identification and ambivalence hypotheses. The results show that political sophistication and identification foster value consistent voting. Moreover, there is an interaction between education and adhering to the preferred party’s vote recommendation. This finding supports the thesis that highly educated citizens use heuristics most efficiently. However, the more ambivalent people are, the more often they vote against their basic political values.

Votare a Palermo

In 2017, Palermo was the largest Italian city that renewed the City Council, including the Mayor. This election was preceded by a national (Italian), constitutional referendum in December 2016. For that referendum the “No” won, and there was a high level of participation to the vote.In this work, we aim to analyze the internal electoral geography of Palermo with a special focus on the vote of citizens belonging to notwealthy social classes. The analysis will be based on the relationship between the election results and a Social Disease Index, preceded by a territorial segmentation of the votes. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate the outcome of the administrative vote, made even more interesting by the renewed electoral rules.Our work will highlight whether the results of the election in Palermo reflect the same dynamics that characterized the overall nation or if local peculiarities are present. Our analysis, will indicate the mechanisms at the base of the evolution of the vote, through the comparison between the results this election and those previously occurred elections, and it will provide a profile of the voter vote in Palermo.

Secure Online Voting System Using Blockchain

ONLINE VOTING SYSTEM is an online voting technique. In this system people who has right to vote in any place and whose age is above 18 years of any gender can cast his her vote online without going to any physical polling station. The main goal of voting is to come up with leaders of the people's choice. Elections in democratic countries have many issues affecting the fairness of election results. Firstly, some people do not care to vote for a variety of reasons, including lack of faith in the system and believing that the effort is not worth it. Secondly, troublesome voter-ID laws prevent citizens from voting if their ID fails to meet the requirements at the polling booth. Thirdly, voter fraud exists, where dishonest voters manage to vote multiple times for the same candidate, skewing the results. Fourthly, voting machines could be outdated and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Lastly, long voting lines at polling booths can discourage people from voting. Recently, much discussion and controversy arose on the missing votes of citizens in elections. Conducting elections through a DApp on the Ethereum platform can provide transparency, security and credibility to the process. This would prevent voter fraud as one voter can only have one ID and all polling systems are on the blockchain, which can identify duplicate attempts to vote . Governments can also save the logistics costs of holding physical polling booths and counting votes.

Financial Inequality, Group Entitlements and Populism

This paper shows how financial inequality and misbeliefs about group entitlements can increase the consensus for populist parties. Given a banking shock, traditional and populist parties propose alternative bailout policies, where short termism characterizes the populistic policy. The citizens vote by weighting both psychological and economic items, in accordance with wealth group features. Given the pros and cons due to financial inequality, the populists proposal is more likely to win the more misbeliefs about group entitlements are robust. Citizens vote for populists because “feels good to do it”, triggering a sort of “democratic rioting”. The theoretical framework seem to be consistent with several facts concerning the European Union.

Do Poor Citizens Vote for Redistribution, Against Immigration or Against the Establishment? A Conjoint Experiment in Denmark

What is the link between socioeconomic disadvantage and vote choice? The literature on this question is fragmented and points to motivations based on welfare policy, immigration policy or anti‐establishment sentiments. To test which of these motives explains differences in voting behaviour between classes, a conjoint experiment in which fictitious candidates present randomly assigned positions was designed. The experiment evaluated the relative importance of the position on welfare, immigration and anti‐establishment as well as candidates’ occupational background. By splitting the analyses into lower, middle‐ and upper class voters, it was found that lower class voters are most distinct from other voters in their preferences for anti‐establishment candidates. Strikingly, lower class voters even support welfare retrenchment, as long as it is an anti‐establishment candidate proposing it. The experiment also found a general tendency to vote against career politicians across classes and remarkably few differences regarding immigration preferences.

El tratamiento periodístico del partido político Podemos en El País y Público: un análisis desde la teoría del framing

La irrupción de Podemos en el panorama político español en el año 2014 supuso una gran revolución en el sistema tradicional de partidos, puesto que esta formación recogió gran parte del voto de la ciudadanía descontenta con los recortes presupuestarios y con la extensión de la corrupción política durante la última década. Debido a que Podemos se ha convertido en una amenaza para PP y PSOE, las críticas de algunos medios de comunicación hacia este partido han ido en aumento. Sin embargo, también se ha producido el apoyo incondicional a dicho partido por parte de otros medios. Como consecuencia, hemos creído necesario llevar a cabo, desde la teoría del framing, y a través del análisis de contenido, un examen del enfoque dado por los diarios El País y Público a las noticias sobre Podemos en noviembre de 2016. Nos ha parecido relevante el análisis del tratamiento periodístico de ciertos aspectos que caracterizan el discurso del secretario general de la formación, Pablo Iglesias, como la identificación de Podemos con el pueblo o la descalificación sistemática de todo aquel que se muestre crítico con su partido.