abstention.
foundationbriefs.com Page 82 of 104 Neg Counters
Sept/Oct 2013 Neg Counters Doesn’t Increase Knowledge foundationbriefs.com Page 83 of 104 CV does not increase political knowledge Multiple studies have found no link between CV and increased political knowledge. RMF Loewen, Peter, Henry Milner, and Bruce Hicks. "Does Compulsory Voting Lead to More Informed and Engaged Citizens An Experimental Test" Canada Research Chair in Electoral Studies, University of Montreal (2008). Webb For example, Bilodeau and Blais (2005) could uncover no empirical studies to support Lipjhart’s claim. To fill the gap, they attempted to substantiate his claim in three ways. They first examined whether citizens in Western European countries with compulsory voting report that they discussed politics more than those in non- compulsory countries. Second, they examined the behaviour of immigrants to New Zealand from compulsory- voting Australia. Third, they examined the behaviour of immigrants to Australia from compulsory voting countries. In each case they sought differences in reported levels of political discussion, interest in politics
and attitudes toward voting, but were unable to find evidence of second-order effects due to compulsory
voting. A recent analysis of Belgian survey data by Engelen and Hooghe (2007) could not find evidence of knowledge effects from compulsory voting. They used the hypothetical question what if voting were not compulsory to isolate those who vote to avoid sanction. They find evidence that those who vote to avoid sanction are less knowledgable about and engaged in politics, suggesting that while compulsory voting is effective at bringing
the otherwise less engaged to the polls, it is not necessarily effective at increasing their knowledge levels. Another recent study using data from the Polish Election Survey used the same method in reverse, asking nonvoters what they would do if voting were compulsory (Czesnik 2007). Not surprisingly, those who reported
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