We study how voter turnout affects the aggregation of preferences in elections. Under voluntary voting, election outcomes disproportionately aggregate the preferences of voters with low voting cost and high preference intensity. We show identification of the correlation structure among preferences, costs, and perceptions of voting efficacy, and explore how the correlation affects preference aggregation. Using 2004 US presidential election data, we find that young, low-income, less-educated, and minority voters are underrepresented. All of these groups tend to prefer Democrats, except for the less educated. Democrats would have won the majority of the electoral votes if all eligible voters had turned out. (JEL D12, D72)

中文翻译：

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选民投票率和偏好汇总

我们研究了选民投票率如何影响选举中的偏好聚合。在自愿投票下，选举结果不成比例地聚合了投票成本低、偏好强度高的选民的偏好。我们展示了偏好、成本和投票效率感知之间的相关结构的识别，并探讨了相关性如何影响偏好聚合。使用 2004 年美国总统选举数据，我们发现年轻、低收入、受教育程度较低和少数族裔选民的代表性不足。所有这些群体都倾向于选择民主党人，除了受教育程度较低的人。如果所有符合条件的选民都投票，民主党人将赢得大部分选举人票。(JEL D12, D72)