Many democratic decision making institutions involve quorum rules. Such rules are commonly motivated by concerns about the “legitimacy” or “representativeness” of decisions reached when only a subset of eligible voters participates. A prominent example of this can be found in the context of direct democracy mechanisms, such as referenda and initiatives. We conduct a laboratory experiment to investigate the consequences of the two most common types of quorum rules: a participation quorum and an approval quorum. We find that both types of quora lead to lower participation rates, dramatically increasing the likelihood of full-fledged electoral boycotts on the part of those who endorse the Status Quo. This discouraging effect is significantly larger under a participation quorum than under an approval quorum.
CITATION STYLE
Aguiar-Conraria, L., Magalhães, P. C., & Vanberg, C. A. (2016). Experimental evidence that quorum rules discourage turnout and promote election boycotts. Experimental Economics, 19(4), 886–909. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-015-9473-9
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