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Putting the Party Back into Politics: An Experiment Testing Whether Election Day Festivals Increase Voter Turnout

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2007

Elizabeth M. Addonizio ,
Donald P. Green  and
James M. Glaser
Elizabeth M. Addonizio
Affiliation:
Yale University
Donald P. Green
Affiliation:
Yale University
James M. Glaser
Affiliation:
Tufts University
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Extract

A century and a half ago, casting a vote in the United States was an engaging social experience, as voters at the polls talked with friends, threw down shots of free whiskey, listened to lively entertainment, and generally had a good time (McGerr 1986). According to Altschuler and Blumin (2000, 75)We are grateful to Pam Lamonaca and Nicole Batdorf, who played a key role in organizing Election Day festivals, and Timothy Ryan and Marcos Luis, who helped in all phases of this project. We also thank Dan Winslow, whose ideas about raising turnout were an impetus for this project, and Dan Bergan and Beth Weinberger, who commented on earlier drafts. The studies described here were funded by generous grants from the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale, the Tufts Summer Scholars Program, and Working Assets, none of which bear responsibility for the content of this report.

Type
FEATURES
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , October 2007 , pp. 721 - 727
Copyright
© 2007 The American Political Science Association

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