Compulsory Voting Increases Men’s Turnout Most

The forthcoming article “Compulsory voting increases men’s turnout most” by Shane P. Singh is summarized by the author below.

Policymakers are more responsive to voters than non-voters. As such, unequal turnout rates can exacerbate representational disparities. This has led many scholars and activists to advocate for compulsory voting on the grounds that it could equalize participation by boosting turnout among less participatory groups.

Like other socioeconomic factors, gender gaps in turnout contribute to unequal representation. Compulsory voting, by the usual logic, should help ensure gender equality in representation by bolstering relative turnout among whichever gender is least participatory. Counter to this, I argue that compulsory voting’s impact is consistently more pronounced for men because men’s voting behavior is especially sensitive to external incentives, while women’s participation depends more on intrinsic motivation.

To test my expectations, I focus on Brazil, where voting is constitutionally mandatory. Brazil also offers a unique quasi-experimental setting, as certain age groups are exempt from compulsory voting. Using official turnout data and leveraging an exogenous age cutoff, I show that compulsory voting increases men’s turnout compared to women’s. I then show that this pattern holds cross-nationally.

I subsequently demonstrate a methodological concern: compulsory voting increases the social desirability of voting for women, leading to higher rates of overreporting in self-reported surveys. This misreporting obscures the true gendered effects of compulsory voting, as survey-based analyses suggest compulsory voting increases women’s turnout more than men’s—a conclusion contradicted by official data.

These findings have significant implications. If compulsory voting disproportionately boosts men’s turnout, it could widen representational disparities. While a powerful tool for increasing turnout, compulsory voting may have unintended consequences for gender equity. At the same time, reliance on self-reported turnout data risks misinforming policymakers and scholars.

About the Author: Shane P. Singh is a Professor of Public and International Affairs and the director of graduate studies in the Department of International Affairs within the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at the University of Georgia. Their research “Compulsory voting increases men’s turnout most” is now available in Early View and will appear in a forthcoming issue of the American Journal of Political Science.