Real and perceived voting costs: Lithuanian emigrants’ discourses on external voting difficulty

Monika Maminskaite

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Due to international migration, increasing numbers of eligible voters are abroad when their home countries hold elections. Employing the theory of voting costs and benefits and focussing on a case of Lithuania, this article presents an unprecedented qualitative enquiry into difficulties behind emigrant (non)voting. Besides real voting costs, interviews with Lithuanian emigrants reveal importance of perceived voting costs when one decides whether to vote—thereby also introducing to the field a novel theoretical framework for examining voting costs and benefits both in and beyond migration context. The paper demonstrates that in addition to implementing adequate provisions for external voting from the home country's side, it is crucial for the authorities to raise awareness of these accommodations—and of the associated conditions, such as registration terms and postal voting deadlines—in order to yield as high as possible participation levels among those emigrants who are willing to vote.

    Original languageEnglish
    JournalInternational Migration
    DOIs
    Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 31 Aug 2021

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    The author is thankful for the funding provided by FNR Luxembourg (grant number 5949842) and Lithuanian Foundation.

    Keywords

    • Lithuanian emigrants
    • migration

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