How Does COVID-19 Impact Local Participation? Evidence from Public E-Meetings

• In Event: Relevance, Quality, and Expedience: Political Science Responds to COVID-19: COVID-19 and Political Behavior: Public Opinion and Political Participation

Abstract

"Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, local governments in the US have taken the lead in crafting public health, economic and social policies in response to COVID-19. Public meetings are one of the many local institutions that has been affected. Many cities and towns have moved them online to enable government business to proceed consistent with social distancing. Which types of citizens participate in these meetings matters because they are where important decisions about issues like housing, and more recently Covid-19 take place. Previous work has found that institutions encouraging local participation often inadvertently amplify some voices over others. One policy relevant conclusion some take from this work is that making public meetings easier to attend will improve equity in participation and representation. In this manuscript we explore how the different online participation procedures -- which may make it easier for some
residents to attend meetings -- adopted by local governments have shaped local political participation. We build a novel database of online public meetings in 97 cities in Massachusetts and code the different ways in which citizens can participate in these meetings. We then match individuals to a voter file to analyze who participates. This analysis speaks to important questions about policy making about and around Covid-19 and provides insight into broader questions of the sources of, and potential remedies for, local participatory inequalities.

Authors

• Luisa Godinez Puig, Boston University

• David Glick, Boston University

• Katherine Levine Einstein, Boston University

• Maxwell B. Palmer, Boston University