Gender, Age and Generational Effects on Turnout in Australian Federal Elections

Abstract

Turnout in Australian federal elections is consistently high by international standards, largely due to the effects of longstanding compulsory voting. However Australian turnout has seen a slight decline over recent elections, and understanding the factors that affect turnout are important for an electoral management body (EMB) tasked with delivering the franchise. Through an analysis of administrative data from the Australian Electoral Commission, this paper examines the effects of age and gender on turnout. We find that turnout in Australian federal elections is dependent on age, with younger people less likely to vote. However, in contrast to international findings, there does not appear to be a generational effect in non-voting in Australia – different generations are roughly equally likely to not vote when younger, and resume voting as they leave their 20s. We also find a small, though consistent, gender effect, with women being more likely to vote than men. Implications and suggestions for further research are made.

Keywords: turnout, voting, gender, age