In this article, I ask two questions: Under what circumstances are voters most likely to leave the polling place line? Who is most likely to leave the polling place line? I present findings from a field observation study in which field researchers observed polling place operations at precincts across the country during the 2016 and 2018 elections. I find that the number of people in line, voter identification laws, and the racial composition of the precinct have an effect on rates of reneging, though the effects are conditional on the type of election. Voters are more likely to leave the check-in line when there are a higher number of people in line. Additionally, voters in majority-Black precincts are most likely to leave the check-in line before voting in presidential and midterm elections. Voter ID laws tend to reduce the incidence of reneging, but the effects are conditional on the type of election and demographic composition of the precinct.

In this article,I ask whether the adoption of vote-bymail (VBM) has resulted in the promised cost reductions. Additionally, I examine the overall determinants of election administration expenditures after the implementation of VBM. Methods: Using Colorado as a case study, I use county level expenditures to determine the effects of institutional change on election administration finance, as well as other institutional and socio-demographic determinants on costs.Results: I find that adopting all-VBM elections significantly reduced expenditures. Additionally, I find that after VBM was implemented, the primary institutional determinants of expenditures are the proportion of mail-in ballots received, as well as the number of poll-workers, and early voting sites. Finally, I find that socio-demographic characteristics are predictive of expenditures for election administration. Counties with higher income spent less per voter in federal elections. Counties with higher proportions of Latinx voting-aged populations spent less per voter, even when controlling for turnout. Conclusion:The results strongly indicate that moving to all-VBM elections can help cash-strapped counties save money. However, conversion to VBM may not guarantee that expenditures will be spent equitably.

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Objective. We seek to examine how individual factors such as information and political sophistication can affect the likelihood of a voter completing his or her ballot. Methods. Through the use of an original experiment, we examine the individual-level effects of information and political sophistication on ballot completion. Results. We find that having less information about the candidates on a ballot results in lower levels of ballot completion. On average, voters complete 19 percent less of their ballot when they possess low levels of information about the candidates involved. Moreover, there are significant differences in how political sophisticates and nonsophisticates respond to deficiencies in candidate information. Conclusion. Even though voters are likely to be hesitant to make a decision for a ballot contest when they are lacking in information, political sophisticates are more comfortable making a voting choice than nonsophisticates, even when they are operating under the exact same information constraints.One of the most paradoxical findings in American voter behavior is that citizens will incur all of the necessary costs of making their way to the ballot booth, and then abstain from registering a preference for a number of election contests (

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