Absentee voting, mobilization, and participation

Liberal absentee laws are designed to make voting easier, which should stim ulate turnout. Using data from the National Election Studies, we test the h ypothesis that persons who choose to vote early are already highly motivate d to participate in the political process. We find support for this hypothe sis, which raises questions about the extent to which liberal absentee laws can expand the electorate. Furthermore, contrary to past research, we seet he Republican advantage in absentee voting as a result of self-selection ra ther than party mobilization.