Putting the Party Back into Politics : An Experiment Testing Whether Election Day Festivals Increase Voter Turnout

This essay describes a series of pilot studies designed to shed light on the question of whether the festive, social environment surrounding old-fashioned elections be recreated in ways that increase voter turnout. During 2005 and 2006, we conducted randomized experiments in 14 geographic areas. Results suggest that social gatherings address the collective action problem often attributed to elections as well as represent a potentially valuable voter mobilization tactic