Gendzwill, Adam and Kjaer, Ulrik

Mind the gap, please: Pinpointing the influence of municipal size on local electoral participation - Local Government Studies - 47(1), Feb, 2021: p.11-30

Turnout rates vary between local and national elections. This paper promotes the national–local turnout gap as the best way to pinpoint the local component of voting at local elections. By analysing the national–local turnout gap instead of the raw local turnout rate, one can reduce the potential bias originating from the differences in socio-demographic composition and civic skills existing between municipalities of various sizes. Including data from 12 countries and almost 15,000 municipalities, it is demonstrated that a clear and consistent relationship between municipal size and local turnout exists: the larger the municipality the fewer eligible voters turn out at local elections (compared to national elections). – Reproduced


Municipal size, Size and democracy, Local elections, Electoral participants, Voter turnout, National- local turnout gap.