Who voted and who would vote if voting was non-mandatory in Brazil: a study of the 2018 elections

• Grant number: 21/12251-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2022
• End date: December 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Political Behavior
• Principal Investigator: Gabriel Avila Casalecchi
• Grantee: Murilo Calafati Pradella
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research aims to analyze voter turnout in the 2018 presidential elections from two perspectives: to understand who are the voters who declared to have participated in the elections and who are the voters who would participate if the elections were not mandatory. With this, we seek to understand possible explanations for electoral abstention and for possible effects related to the mandatory voting rule in Brazil. To achieve these goals, we will use data from the Brazilian Electoral Study, the ESEB, a survey applied in 2018 with a representative sample of Brazilian voters. The research is part of the field of quantitative methodology and will use descriptive and inferential statistical analyzes that can be generalized to the electoral population. It is expected to contribute to the literature on political behavior, more specifically, to the understanding of the complex 2018 election in Brazil.