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Electoral participation, as an important form of political participation, is important in discussions of political sociology and sociology of elections. Modernization theory is one of the major theories to explain electoral participation. Part of the impact of modernization on political participation is done through education. This paper shows that the effect of education on electoral participation is more complex than it is emphasized that modernization theory. This article examines the educational development and electoral participation through critical review of other studies, secondary analysis and Sub-national comparative study. Looking at the overall statistics, the literacy rate of electoral participation between 1978 to 2005, there is a contrasting relationship that is inconsistent with the findings of other researchers. This article article is intended to report on this relationship. This analysis showed that nine presidential elections, despite the findings of other researchers, there is not a direct positive relationship between Literacy rates of electoral participation. Given the fact that our data were limited, efforts will be the seventh presidential election (1997) to be analyzed as a case study. Comparison showed in 1997 in the provinces of Iran, between electoral participation and the literacy rate, there is a contrasting relationship as an inverted U shape. Subgroup analysis showed that participation in elections directly related to education and electoral participation is more complex than the theories of modernization. The results showed a relationship between educational development and political participation is determined by the the type of literate people's jobs and their dependence on government.