Who Votes by Post? Understanding the Drivers of Postal Voting in the 2019 British General Election

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6313372
AutoresJoshua Townsley (0000-0002-6259-0734, Department of Methodology, London School of Economics & Political Science , Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE , UK), Stuart J Turnbull-Dugarte (0000-0002-9330-3945, Department of Politics & International Relations, University of Southampton , University Road, Southampton SO17 1BJ , UK), Siim Trumm (0000-0002-2508-3346, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham , University Park, Nottingham, NG92AS , UK), Caitlin Milazzo (0000-0002-0273-7327, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham , University Park, Nottingham, NG92AS , UK, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume76
Fascículo1
Páginas43-61
Data de publicação2023-01-02
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoParliamentary Affairs (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0031-2290 • E-ISSN: 1460-2482
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/pa/gsab049
OpenAlexW3198555799
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas34

While most voters in democratic countries still cast their ballot on election day, the proportion of the electorate which opts for postal voting has been steadily, and often dramatically, increasing. This transformation in electoral politics, however, is under-researched, particularly with regards to the motivations underlying the decision to cast a postal vote. In this article, we analyse the factors that drive an individual to vote by post rather than at the polling station. Using data from the 2019 British Election Study, we show, among other findings, that citizens for whom in-person voting would entail higher costs, such as the elderly and disabled, are more likely to opt for the convenience of postal voting. In addition, we find that partisans are unlikely to vote by post, suggesting that they derive greater expressive benefits from voting in a public setting. Finally, our analysis demonstrates that constituency marginality matters when it comes to opting for postal voting: citizens in more competitive constituencies are significantly more likely to ensure their votes by casting their ballots by post rather than on election day

Ballot · Democracy · Demographic economics · Disapproval voting · Economics · First-past-the-post voting · General election · Group voting ticket · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Polling · Ranked voting system · Secret ballot · Split-ticket voting · Spoilt vote · Straight-ticket voting · Turnout · Voting · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Public Administration · Social Media and Politics