Assessing the Impact of Alternative Voting Technologies on Multi-Party Elections: Design Features, Heuristic Processing and Voter Choice

Abstract

This paper analyzes the influence of alternative voting technologies on electoral outcomes in multi-party systems. Using data from a field experiment conducted during the 2005 legislative election in Argentina, we examine the role of information effects associated with alternative voting devices on the support for the competing parties. We find that differences in the type of information displayed and how it was presented across devices favored some parties to the detriment of others. The impact of voting technologies was found to be larger than in two-party systems, and could lead to changes in election results. We conclude that authorities in countries moving to adopt new voting systems should carefully take the potential partisan advantages induced by different technologies into account when evaluating their implementation.

Partisan Cues and Vote Choice in New Multiparty Systems

“…Numerous studies indicate that voters in developed democracies rely on partisan cues to streamline their electoral decision-making processes. However, only a handful of scholars have examined the effects of partisan cues elsewhere (Brader and Tucker 2012;Brader, et al 2012;Calvo, et al 2009;Katz, et al 2011;Merolla, et al 2007;Samuels and Zucco 2014), and none have studied vote choice outcomes in a system where all major parties have little electoral experience. The paucity of scholarship on partisan cues in such settings is likely attributable to researchers' expectation that partisan cues are of limited utility in new party systems, where parties have not had much time to establish records as governors, coherent ideological cores, and psychological bonds with citizens.…”

“…We know of only a few studies specifically on the effects of partisan cues in newer party systems, most of which examine how cues affect policy preference, rather than vote choice (Brader and Tucker 2012;Brader, et al 2013;Merolla, et al 2007;Samuels and Zucco 2014). We are aware of only one study that examines the effects of cues on party-based voting: an experiment testing varying electronic voting designs in Argentina (Calvo, et al 2009;Katz et al 2011). In this study, however, party names and logos were equally apparent across all treatment conditions, while the prominence and accessibility of candidate names, among other things, varied across treatments.…”

“…Despite widespread use of such identifiers on ballots, we currently lack systematic evidence about their effects on voting, particularly in developing countries (ACE Electoral Knowledge Network 2007; Katz, et al 2011;Reynolds and Steenburgen 2006). 6 While proponents of the inclusion of textual and visual elements argue that doing so will affect electoral outcomes by encouraging participation and reducing voter error, such recommendations fail to consider that such elements could themselves affect voter preferences.…”

“…Furthermore, an additional set of factors comes into play when individuals are voting, as opposed to when they are evaluating policies. Another experiment examines candidate-based versus party-based voting outcomes, but only varies the prominence of candidate names and search functions, and not the presence of partisan cues (Calvo, et al 2009;Katz et al 2011). their past and potential performance, preferences and abilities regarding distribution, democratic credentials, and electoral viability.…”

Informing Electorates via Election Law: An Experimental Study of Partisan Endorsements and Nonpartisan Voter Guides in Local Elections

“…Our study is among the first to use experiments conducted during an actual election to assess the effects of legal interventions in the market for political information (see also Boudreau, Elmendorf, and MacKenzie 2013;Katz et al 2011). Experiments are underappreciated as a tool for studying actual and contemplated legal interventions designed to enhance voters' access to information.…”