Demonstrating how voter turnout can serve as an indicator of the health of a democracy, this study documents the conditions that can result in low voter turnout and suggests reforms that might alleviate these conditions. Mark Franklin concludes that declining turnout does not necessarily reflect reductions in civic virtue or increases in alienation. Franklin claims that turnout falls due to cumulating effects of institutional changes, a lack of competition in elections and a decision by a large proportion of the electorate not to participate as a response to the lack of competition.

Figures; Tables; Preface; The authors; Introduction; 1. Confronting the puzzles of voter turnout; 2. A new approach to the calculus of voting; 3. The role of generational replacement in turnout change; 4. Rational responses to electoral competition; 5. Explaining turnout change in 22 countries; 6. Electoral competition and the individual citizen; 7. Understanding turnout decline; 8. The turnout puzzles revisited; Appendices: A. The surveys employed in this book; B. Aggregate data for established democracies, 1945-9; C. Supplementary findings; Bibliography; Author index; Subject index.