None of the above : protest voting in Latin American democracies /
Around the world each year, millions of citizens turn out to vote but leave their ballots empty or spoil them. Increasingly, campaigns have emerged that promote "invalid" votes like these. Why do citizens choose to cast blank and spoiled votes? And how do campaigns mobilizing the invalid v...
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| Online Access: |
Access full-text online via JSTOR |
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| Author / Contributor: | |
| Imprint: |
Ann Arbor [Michigan] :
University of Michigan,
2024.
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| Format: | Electronic |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Series: | Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies series.
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| Summary: | Around the world each year, millions of citizens turn out to vote but leave their ballots empty or spoil them. Increasingly, campaigns have emerged that promote "invalid" votes like these. Why do citizens choose to cast blank and spoiled votes? And how do campaigns mobilizing the invalid vote influence this decision? None of the Above answers these questions using evidence from presidential and gubernatorial elections in eighteen Latin American democracies. Author Mollie J. Cohen draws on a broad range of methods and sources, incorporating data from electoral management bodies, nationally representative surveys, survey experiments, focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and news sources. Contrary to received wisdom, this book shows that most citizens cast blank or spoiled votes in presidential elections on purpose. By participating in invalid vote campaigns, citizens can voice their concerns about low-quality candidates while also expressing a preference for high-quality democracy. Campaigns promoting blank and spoiled votes come about more often, and succeed at higher rates, when incumbent politicians undermine the quality of elections. Surprisingly, invalid vote campaigns can shore up the quality of democracy in the short term. None of the Above shows that swings in blank and spoiled vote rates can serve as a warning about the trajectory of a country's democracy. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-240) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780472904280 0472904280 |
| Source of Description, Etc. Note: | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed. |