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Home Issues Backissues Volume 31, No.1 Too Far to Vote? A Preliminary Analysis of Residential Absentees' Electoral Behaviour in Taiwan

Too Far to Vote? A Preliminary Analysis of Residential Absentees' Electoral Behaviour in Taiwan

Chi-Lin Tsai
2015 / 05
Volume 22, No.1

pp.35-69
10.6612/tjes.2015.22.01.35-69
Paper

Abstract

Most of studies on absentee voting in Taiwan have concentrated on normative and institutional analysis. This article brings empirical analysis onto focus by using survey as well as census data to examine the electoral behaviour of the electors who do not reside in their registered households, i.e. residential absentees. Research results-which cover several nationwide elections held between 2000 and 2012-confirm that residential absentees are indeed less likely to vote than are those who live in their registered households. However, the data show no compelling evidence for the claim that the result of the 2012 presidential election would have been turned around, had all of residential absentees turned out to vote. Due to the limitations of data, these findings can only be extrapolated to people who are residentially absent but still living in Taiwan. In order to make better projections about the possible impacts of the forthcoming absentee voting system, future research should therefore manage to include the other types of residential absentees into investigation.

Keywords

voting

voter turnout

residential absence

absentee voting