Political Participation in Midterm Congressional Elections

Abstract

This article examines the relationship of election administration procedures, sociodemographic characteristics of the citizens, attitudes, and election situation characteristics to voter turnout in three midterm congressional elections. Turnout is consistently related to certain attitudinal and social characteristics in all three elections, while others vary in their association with turnout. Election administration procedures are of limited importance in accounting for turnout, while some of the electoral context variables have a significant impact on voting participation patterns.