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Factors That Impact Direct Democracy and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a National Study on American Counties

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Factors That Impact Direct Democracy and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a National Study on American Counties UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones December 2018 Factors that Impact Direct Democracy and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a National Study on American Counties Michael Joseph Biesiada Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Public Administration Commons Repository Citation Biesiada, Michael Joseph, "Factors that Impact Direct Democracy and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a National Study on American Counties" (2018). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 3402. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/14279037 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FACTORS THAT IMPACT DIRECT DEMOCRACY AND VOTER TURNOUT: EVIDENCE FROM A NATIONAL STUDY ON AMERICAN COUNTIES By Michael Joseph Biesiada Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Marketing University of Nevada, Las Vegas 2008 Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Management Information Systems University of Nevada, Las Vegas 2009 Master of Education – Higher Education University of Nevada, Las Vegas 2013 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy – Public Affairs School of Public Policy and Leadership Greenspun College of Urban Affairs The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas December 2018 Copyright by Michael Joseph Biesiada, 2018 All Rights Reserved Dissertation Approval The Graduate College The University of Nevada, Las Vegas September 20, 2018 This dissertation prepared by Michael Biesiada entitled Factors That Impact Direct Democracy and Voter Turnout: Evidence from A National Study On American Counties is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy – Public Affairs School of Public Policy and Leadership Jayce Farmer, Ph.D. Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D. Examination Committee Chair Graduate College Interim Dean Jessica Word, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Jaewon Lim, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Daniel Lee, Ph.D. Graduate College Faculty Representative ii Abstract This dissertation examines factors that impact citizen initiatives and voter turnout. The dissertation contains two parts that build upon each other with fitting theoretical frameworks. The first part investigates the decision for a county government to permit citizen initiatives. This part applies new institutionalism theory as a framework to examine county governance, autonomy, and decision-making. County governments play a vital role in American politics, yet little is known about why some counties permit citizen initiatives while others do not. I address a gap in the literature that focuses on policy outcomes that vary at the county-level due to election laws. Therefore, this study is one of the first empirical works to examine the institutional arrangements that impact the enactment of citizen initiatives at the county-level. To investigate counties that permit the citizen initiative, I collect data from a national dataset on American counties from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) 2014 Survey, U.S. Department of Education, American Community Survey (ACS), U.S. Census Bureau, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), and the 2013 NACO state report. Using a logistic model, I find cross-sectional evidence that the citizen initiative has a high association with the commission and council-elected governments for U.S. counties surveyed in 46 states. The findings suggest that elected representatives have a place in county government structure, citizens within certain county governments can use the initiative as a safeguard against political malfeasance, and elected representatives can use the initiative to engage public opinion. In addition, the first part of this dissertation provides evidence that counties afforded the home rule authority are more likely associated with the initiative, high-income counties are more likely associated with the initiative, and, conversely, higher educated counties are less likely associated with the initiative. iii The second part of this dissertation investigates the impact of citizen initiatives on voter turnout. This part uses participatory democratic theory as a lens to examine the attitudes and interests of citizens in the context of voter turnout. Therefore, this part is one of the first empirical works that contributes to the literature by determining the effect of uncharted county and state-level factors on county voter turnout. To conduct an analysis on voter turnout, I collect data from a national dataset on American counties from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) 2014 Survey, American Community Survey (ACS), U.S. Atlas of Elections, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI) Fund, Ballotpedia, and FairVote. Using both single-level and multilevel OLS models, I find cross- sectional evidence that information costs put a burden on voters in U.S. counties surveyed in 23 states during the 2016 election. The findings suggest information cost for both county and state initiatives can hinder voter participation, income inequality has a negative impact on county turnout, and educated citizens care about voting. Along the way, I provide evidence that sorts out competing claims on how citizen initiatives impact the rational voter. iv Acknowledgements I have spent my entire academic career at UNLV. I have numerous faculty, colleagues, friends, and family to thank for completing a Ph.D. in Public Affairs at UNLV. This acknowledgment section will only be a brief list of my more recent experiences, but I hope to convey my sincere appreciation for the UNLV community. As chair of my dissertation, Dr. Jayce Farmer was incredibly instrumental in the development and completion of this project. Even with a wide range of department responsibilities, he took me on as a student because our research interests were so closely aligned. Starting from our first meeting, Dr. Farmer was very giving of his time to discuss how my research questions lined up with the current public administration literature. We moved swiftly through the many steps that it takes to build a credible dissertation project. It was only a short time after that we would be drawing out diagrams and mapping out techniques to analyze my data. As a result, I owe a great debt of gratitude for his support throughout this dissertation project. Moreover, Dr. Farmer was incredibly supportive of my exposure to various university activities that included presenting my research to public forums, serving as a graduate ambassador, and helping expand my teaching activities. I am incredibly grateful that he is a colleague studying public policy issues at UNLV. I want to thank Dr. Jessica Word for her time and support. In particular, Dr. Word played a key role by writing letters of support on my behalf even before I started working with Dr. Farmer. Dr. Word offered many insights that pushed the scope of this dissertation project to press the assumptions and insights. Likewise, I thank Dr. Jaewon Lim for taking the time to think about my research questions and models together. He always helped me clarify my approach in using various models incorporated in this dissertation. I want to thank Dr. Daniel Lee for serving v as an outside representative, who was also very giving of his time. Dr. Lee is a careful thinker, who offered countless ways to improve the value of my dissertation. Dr. Lee was always helpful in discussing a range of issues, from the political implications to breaking down complicated areas into neatly defined parts. I also would like to thank Dr. Helen Neill. Dr. Neill played a pivotal part in my early experiences as a Ph.D. student. Dr. Neill was instrumental in shaping and clarifying my thinking on important public policy issues. These early conversations with Dr. Neil would ultimately lead me to my final dissertation topic. I want to thank Dr. Lee Bernick. Once I settled on a topic, Dr. Bernick was always happy to take time out to discuss the implications of my project and offer thoughtful feedback. I thank Dr. Christopher Stream, who was always there to offer friendly words of advice that would lift my spirits. I also thank Dr. Victoria Rosser, Dr. Harriet Barlow, and Dr. Tiberio Garza, who have been incredibly important supporters of mine since my early days at UNLV. I am grateful to the UNLV Graduate College and the Graduate Professional Student Association. In particular, I am thankful for the support from Dean Kathryn Korgan and Valarie Burke, especially while I served as a UNLV graduate ambassador. I want to thank UNLV Librarian Patrick Griffis for his time and effort. He was always willing to lend a helping hand in tracking down data and verifying sources. I also want to thank my very dear friend, Dr. Andrea Buenrostro
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