Tessera

PSA Latin American Politics Specialist Group

@psalatinamerica.bsky.social

We are the Latin American Politics Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association (@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social) Web: www.psa.ac.uk/specialist-groups/latin-american-politics

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Political Studies @polstudies.bsky.social · 2w ago

When Chile returned to compulsory voting in 2022, turnout surged. But so did invalid ballots. Gonzalo Contreras & Mauricio Morales Quiroga argue compulsory voting shifts political inequality from participation to vote validity. Read more: buff.ly/gZYDrA9 @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social #LatinAmerica

Abstract
Compulsory voting (CV) reliably raises turnout, but its effects on invalid ballots and the inequalities these produce are less well understood. Chile’s return to CV in 2022 provides a rare within-country test of how the shift from voluntary to compulsory participation reshapes invalid voting and what this produces in the context of shifting inequalities. We analyse the last local elections held under voluntary voting (VV, 2021) and the first under CV (2024) across all 345 municipalities, exploiting concurrent contests held under distinct electoral rules. Our central finding is that CV shifts inequality from participation to vote validity, with rates of invalid voting varying across majoritarian and proportional elections. Specifically: (1) invalid voting increased substantially under CV, though valid votes for parties and candidates also rose; (2) the entry of new voters is associated with a shift from abstention under VV to invalid ballots under CV; (3) ballot size is more strongly associated with invalid voting under CV in proportional than in relative-majority systems; (4) poverty is unrelated to invalid voting under VV but becomes significant under CV, especially in the capital; and (5) rurality is negatively associated with invalid voting under CV but not under VV. These results contribute to debates on whether CV corrects or displaces class bias in participation, on the structural determinants of invalid voting, and on how electoral system type conditions invalid ballot rates under compulsory participation.

PSA Latin American Politics Specialist Group @psalatinamerica.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Looking for a methods summer school this year? The University of Southampton will host an Introduction to Experiments in Social Science Summer School from 29 June to 3 July 2026. It is quite accessible and does not require prior experience with quantitative methods 👇

PSA Latin American Politics Specialist Group @psalatinamerica.bsky.social · 4mo ago

#PSA26 A big thank you to all our presenters and participants who joined our panels yesterday! We had a fantastic set of presentations tackling some of the most pressing issues in the region. We hope to continue growing our Latam community in future events. @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social

PSA Latin American Politics Specialist Group @psalatinamerica.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Hello #PSA26! Tomorrow Wednesday 1st we are hosting two panels: 👉 Parties, Public Opinion and the New Right: The state of Democracy in Latin America (9:30am) 👉 Bureaucracy, Territory, and Belonging in Latin America (1:30pm) Both take place at Wadham College, C. Day-Lewis. Come join us!