POLITICAL-CULTURE, REGISTRATION LAWS, AND VOTER TURNOUT AMONG THE AMERICAN STATES

Political scientists have long been concerned about the effects of voter-registration rules on election-day turnout, but have devoted little effort to explaining interstate differences in voting procedures. What leads one state to adopt permissive registration laws and another to enact restrictive laws? In addition, what is the precise relationship between registration laws and measures of popular participation? This article takes a first step toward answering these questions, utilizing Daniel J. Elazar's concept of political culture and causal-modeling techniques. The results indicate that political culture offers a significant, theory-driven explanation for differences in voter-registration laws and voter turnout among the American states.