Polling Places and Voter Turnout

Abstract

This study examines how the number of polling places and their open hours within municipalities affect the rate of voter turnout. Using the panel data of municipalities in 34 prefectures in three Lower House elections between 2005 and 2012, I show that (1) the percent of voter turnout increases by 0.17 point as the number of polling places per 10000 voters increases by one within the municipality and (2) the percent of voter turnout decreases by 0.9 point when all polling places in the municipality are closed two hours earlier than the Public Offices Election Law requires. These relationships hold regardless of the population size and density of municipalities. The government has proposed and implemented a variety of policies to increase voter turnoutin the last two decades, but this study suggests that voter turnout could increase only by reexamining the importance of the number and hours of polling places.