Book Review
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February 2007
Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation and What We Can Do About It, by Stephen Macedo and 18 other authors. 2005. Brookings Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 188 pages. $44.95 hardcover, $17.95 softcover.
This collection by the American Political Science Association’s Standing Committee on Civic Education and Engagement is loaded with advice for improving civic participation. Of most interest to legislators and staff is a chapter dealing with the effects of public policy on citizen participation, especially voting. The recommendations in this chapter relating to voter turnout are particularly interesting because they go beyond the mechanisms of election laws and address other factors such as the potential effect of civic education and political competitiveness on political participation. Among them are four that are particularly well-grounded in academic research and should seriously be considered.
- Mail polling place information and sample ballots to registered voters in advance of the election. There is evidence that this is particularly effective for those with only a high school education. Advance mailing of polling place information produces a 7 percent increase in turnout; sample ballots yield a 6 point increase.
- Strengthen civic education in schools. Voting is a learned habit. Schools have great potential, mostly unrealized, to be an effective mechanism for improving civic engagement and dispositions.
- Teach voting mechanics to high school students. A 1999 survey by the National Association of Secretaries of State reported that many young people don’t go to the polls because they don’t know how the machines work. A subsequent experiment showed that teaching the mechanics to students can increase turnout by 20 points or more.
- Allow Election Day registration. Seven states currently allow same day voter registration. Recent studies show that it can increase overall turnout by 3 to 4 percent. It is particularly popular with young people, and has raised turnout by as much as 14 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds.
The authors have other recommendations that do not appear to have a strong research basis and may be advocated for reasons other than improving political participation. They would like Congress to reauthorize the voting materials provision of the Voting Rights Act that requires local governments to provide assistance, such as bilingual ballots, to voters in areas with low rates of English literacy. They want English lessons for immigrants so they are better able to vote and otherwise participate. They want colleges and universities to provide voter registration information. They believe it would be helpful to make Election Day a holiday or move it to a weekend.
The authors also strongly advocate allowing ex-felons to vote and even suggest that states should allow felons who are on probation or parole to vote, but they don't present any evidence that these steps would have a measurable effect on voter turnout.
Other advice concerns mid-decade redistricting, which the authors believe should be outlawed. The unsubstantiated argument is that frequent redistricting results in public cynicism and thereby reduces political participation. They also advise that nonpartisan commissions draw congressional and state legislative districts, a move they say is the “single most important thing that could be done to increase competitiveness and spur political participation.”
Their model appears to be the Arizona five-member citizen board that draws political boundaries according to specific nonpolitical criteria. Despite their enthusiasm for this reform, the authors do not present any evidence of a link between competitive legislative districts and levels of political participation. In fact, there is recent political science research that shows that the decline in competitiveness of legislative districts is not due to redistricting but rather to demographic changes, increased partisanship by voters and the power of incumbency.
Another recommendation concerns giving two Electoral College votes to the statewide winner of the popular vote for president and one to the winner of each congressional district. This is the system that is currently in place in Maine and Nebraska. The argument for it is that it will encourage presidential candidates to campaign in all states and not to ignore the ones that are safe for one party. The hope is that this will increase levels of political interest and voting. “...[W]e admit that this conclusion is based more on inference than on empirical analysis,” they say.
This is a summary of only one chapter of this engaging book. Other portions look at what local governments, neighborhood organizations and communities can do to encourage political participation and the role associations and the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors play in promoting civic engagement.
—Karl Kurtz, NCSL
