Competitive elections are good democracy, creating more engaged voters over a longer period of time

The closer the election, the better for democracy. At least, that is the conclusion of research carried out by Heather Evans. She finds that a close election, and all of the resulting attention that ensues, makes voters more politically engaged, a change which continues into the next election cycle. She additionally argues that this insight should be part of any future debate on how to increase engagement with democracy.