Local Improvement Districts as Political Participation Signals

Abstract

A significant amount of literature has inspected the relationship between public–private partnerships and state and local government. This literature has focused primarily on how these agreements shape financing, economic development, and public policy measures. There is little research, however, on how improvement districts may affect political participation. There are many reasons to believe that these districts may raise levels of political participation, as they deeply affect state and local politics and shape the socioeconomic development of local communities. This article fills this gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between the establishment of local improvement districts and voter participation rates. An original data set is constructed from 18 state assembly districts and 22 local improvement districts in New York City across nine elections between 2002 and 2018, resulting in 198 unique observations across time. Empirical results reflect how the development of improvement districts can serve as signals for rising political participation in surrounding areas, marked by increasing rates of voter turnout across midterm and presidential-year election cycles. These findings are compelling, providing insight into how local organizations designed and sustained through issue ownership and community collaboration have the ability to raise political participation through electoral activity.