Observers of elections often report that voters have engaged in protest voting. We find that
“protest voting” refers to a wide range of behaviors, and we create a taxonomy of these …

Research on invalid voting has expanded rapidly over the past few years. This review article
for the first time examines its principal findings and provides a new theoretical perspective …

The impetus for writing this book can be traced to a council block in the inner-London
borough of Hackney. Hackney is one of the most deprived local authorities in the UK, and …

It has been suggested that political distrust is associated with lower levels of voter turnout
and increased votes for challenger or populist parties. We investigate the relationship …

Voters often make the effort to go to the polls but effectively throw their vote away by leaving
their ballot blank or intentionally spoiled. Typically construed as anomalous or errant, we …

Rates of invalid voting in Latin America are among the highest in the world. Yet, scholars
have not reached an agreement about whether these votes are driven by voter protest and, if …

Latin America contains roughly half of the world's countries that use compulsory voting, but
this electoral institution has received only limited attention from researchers. This article …

Invalid votes are often considered as simple failure to cast a valid vote. In fact, they might be
a rational expression of discontent with party policy offerings. By employing individual and …

Invalid ballots are relatively common in countries with compulsory voting, yet there is no
cross-national evidence as to who is more likely to cast a blank or spoiled ballot where …

We examine the tendency for complex ballots to undermine the ability of voters to cast valid
votes. Specifically, we investigate the role of ballot design in explaining the high rate of …