Voter Participation by Young Voters in Tokyo Suburban Cities: The Cases of Koganei and Kodaira

Abstract

Voter turnout is falling in democracies around the world. The decline is particularly serious in local elections in metropolitan areas. In this paper, I analyze the participation of young voters in two Tokyo suburban cities. In Koganei City mayoral elections were held twice in 2011 because of a controversy about garbage disposal. In Kodaira City a referendum was held on the planned construction of a road. Analysis of Koganei mayoral elections using a mail survey indicates that younger voters were more likely than older voters to consider the garbage problem when deciding whether to go to vote. Aggregate data on the Kodaira referendum shows that the turnout of younger voters was higher than the norm for local elections in that city. In neither of these two elections did overall turnout rise but my analyses demonstrate that younger voters will participate more actively in local elections if they have an opportunity to vote on a controversial issue.