"Voting Is an Incredibly Important Lever of Policy Change"

"In the wake of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, long-term Democratic incumbents shifted their voting behavior to respond to the newly mobilized Southern black electorate. Thomas Hansford and Brad Gomez studied more than 50 years of data and find that the 'effect of variation in turnout on electoral outcomes appears quite meaningful.' One recent study finds that where there is less class bias in turnout, party policy platforms are more favorable to the poor. James Avery and Mark Peffley find that states with low-income voters turned out to vote, politicians were less inclined to pass restrictive eligibility rules for welfare.  Political scientists Kim Hill and Jan Leighley find in two studies that states with a more pronounced class bias, social welfare spending is lower. David Broockman and Christopher Skovron find that legislators tend to overstate the conservative attitudes of their constituents. This could be because their constituents tend to be wealthier. One study of wealthy citizens finds that, 'on economic issues wealthy Democratic respondents tended to be more conservative than Democrats in the general population.'
"Voting should only be the beginning of political change; it should not be the end. It is, however, necessary. In their study, Hill and Leighley find, 'it is the underrepresentation of the poor, rather than the overrepresentation of the wealthy' that explains why states with high turnout inequality have low social welfare spending. The fight to reduce the influence of the wealthy will be a long one, but it begins at the ballot box."


Sean McElwee in Salon discusses the importance of voting.