Voting is a habit. People learn the habit of voting, or not, based on experience in their first few elections. This book shows how voter turnout can serve as an indicator of the health of a democracy.

Demonstrating how voter turnout can serve as an indicator of the health of a democracy, this study documents the conditions that can result in low voter turnout and suggests reforms that might alleviate these conditions. Mark Franklin concludes that declining turnout does not necessarily reflect reductions in civic virtue or increases in alienation. Franklin claims that turnout falls due to cumulating effects of institutional changes, a lack of competition in elections and a decision by a large proportion of the electorate not to participate as a response to the lack of competition.