A century and a half ago, casting a vote in the United States was an
engaging social experience, as voters at the polls talked with
friends, threw down shots of free whiskey, listened to lively
entertainment, and generally had a good time (McGerr 1986). According to Altschuler and Blumin
(2000, 75)We are grateful to Pam Lamonaca and Nicole Batdorf, who
played a key role in organizing Election Day festivals, and
Timothy Ryan and Marcos Luis, who helped in all phases of this
project. We also thank Dan Winslow, whose ideas about raising
turnout were an impetus for this project, and Dan Bergan and
Beth Weinberger, who commented on earlier drafts. The studies
described here were funded by generous grants from the
Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale, the Tufts
Summer Scholars Program, and Working Assets, none of which bear
responsibility for the content of this report.