Replication Data for: Legislative Term Limits and Voter Turnout

According to reformers, legislative term limits should increase voter turnout by enhancing electoral competitiveness for legislative seats. However, this claim has been largely untested. The only existing study of the effect of legislative term limits on voter turnout, to date, finds that turnout in California did not increase after the imposition of term limits and may have decreased turnout. Yet, it is unclear whether this result generalizes to other states. This study employs a comparative state analysis of both aggregate turnout and district-level turnout rates in state legislative elections. We find that term limits significantly increase voting rates in state legislative elections.

据改革倡导者称，立法任期限制应通过提升立法席位的选举竞争力来提高选民投票率。然而，这一主张在很大程度上尚未得到验证。迄今为止，唯一一项针对立法任期限制对选民投票率影响的研究发现，加利福尼亚州在实施任期限制后，选民投票率并未上升，甚至可能有所下降。不过，目前尚不清楚这一研究结果是否能推广至其他州。本研究采用州际比较分析方法，对州议会选举中的总体投票率与选区层面投票率展开分析。研究结果表明，任期限制显著提升了州议会选举中的投票率。