Union influence on voter turnout:Results from three los angeles county elections

Using voting records of several thousand people n South Los Angeles over three local elections in 2003 and 2004, the author examines the effects of political mobilization contacts by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor on voter turnout. Many view Los Angeles as a key example of U.S. labor movement revitalization and regard the County Federation's political acumen paramount to the local labor movement's success.Using logistic regressions, the author measures changes in voter propensity based on union contact for each election. He finds that all types of union contacts (including personal visits and live phone calls) significantly affect the turnout levels of voters, particularly Latinos.