Whose absentee votes are returned and counted: The variety and use of absentee ballots in California

Absentee voting is becoming more prevalent throughout the United States. Although there has been some research focused on who votes by absentee ballot, little research has considered another important question about absentee voting: which absentee ballots are counted and which are not? Research in the wake of the 2000 presidential election has studied the problem of uncounted ballots for precinct voters but not for absentee voters. Using data from Los Angeles County – nation's largest and most diverse voting jurisdiction – for the November 2002 general election, we test a series of hypotheses that certain types of voters have a higher likelihood that their ballots will be counted. We find that uniform service personnel, overseas civilians, voters who request non-English ballots and permanent absentee voters have a much lower likelihood of returning their ballot, and once returned, a lower likelihood that their ballots will be counted compared with the general absentee voting population. We also find that there is little partisan effect as to which voters are more likely to return their ballots or have their ballots counted. We conclude our paper with a discussion of the implications of our research for the current debates about absentee voting

A Hyperbolic Discounting Utility Function

In 1960, an economist named Tjalling C. Koopmans set out to define the postulates necessary and sufficient to assume a discounting model which was already commonly in use in economic theory. This discounting model describes the choices an individual makes as discounted exponentially as time increases. However, there exists empirical research in psychology and behavioral economics which would indicate that the discounting rate people use to make choices is not exponential but instead hyperbolic. That is, that the average discount rate over long intervals is lower than the average discount rate over shorter intervals. Thus, I examine a functional form which includes a declining discount rate. I attempt to define the postulates necessary to assume the hyperbolic model. I begin with a brief digression into the economic history of interest rates to emphasize that discounting is a behavioral norm, discuss the dialog between theorists on the impact and origins of interest rates, and then define my assumptions for the theoretical model