Introduction: the case for inclusive voting practices

ABSTRACT

The voter turnout gap has plagued many elections around the world, with differential levels of participation between groups having the potential to effect election results and policy outcomes. Despite this, there has been little empirical or normative theorization of the interventions that can be used redress the turnout gap and other inequalities within the electoral process. This article defines the concept of inclusive voting practices to refer to policy instruments which can reduce turnout inequality between groups and mitigate other inequalities within the electoral process. This is anchored in a strategic-relational theory of structure, agency and political change. Different state responses are conceptualized and the normative case for an interventionist rather than repressive or laissez-faire approaches is set out. A research agenda is set out which is taken up in subsequent articles in this special issue.

KEYWORDS:

• Electoral integrity
• voting
• electoral management
• democratization
• voter turnout
• electoral administration
• political participation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Toby S. James is Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of East Anglia. He has published widely on electoral integrity, political leadership and the policy process. Books include Elite Statecraft and Election Administration (2012, Palgrave) and Comparative Electoral Management (2020). He is co-convenor of the global Electoral Management Network and tweets @tobysjames.

Dr Holly Ann Garnett is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, and cross-appointed at Queen’s University. Her research examines how electoral integrity can be strengthened throughout the electoral cycle, including electoral management, registration and voting procedures, election technology and cyber-security, civic literacy and campaign finance. She is a co-convener of the Electoral Management Network. Holly Ann was an Endeavour Research Fellow at The Australian National University (2017), a visiting fellow at the Åbo Akademi, Finland (2017), a visiting researcher at the University of Sydney (2014), and a Killam Fellow at Cornell University (2009).

ORCID

Toby S. James http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5826-5461

Holly Ann Garnett http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2119-4399

Notes

1 We should of course also be mindful of other forms on inequality in the electoral process. For example, if citizens are given an unequal experience at the polling stations because of their ethnicity, age or geographical location then this too violates the principal of inequality. An inclusive voting practice would seek to address this too, even though it was not directly related to turnout.

2 Papers were primarily drawn from leading academics and policymakers from the pre-APSA workshop on “Building Better Elections: New Challenges in Electoral Management”, held at MIT in Boston in 2018, convened by the editors. This workshop was supported by a Connection Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.