Casting ballots when knowing results

Abstract

Access to information about candidates' performance has long stood as a key factor shaping voter behaviour but establishing how it impacts behaviour in real-world settings has remained challenging. In the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections, unpredictable technical glitches caused by the implementation of biometrics as a form of ID led some voters to cast ballots after official tallies started being announced. In addition to providing a source of exogenous variation of information exposure, runoff elections also enable us to distinguish between different mechanisms underlying the impact of information exposure. We find strong support for a vote-switching bandwagon effect: information exposure motivates voters to abandon losing candidates and switch support for the frontrunner-a finding that stands in the second round, when only two candidates compete against each other. These findings provide theoretical nuance and stronger empirical support for the mechanisms underpinning the impact of information exposure on voter behaviour.

Stigmatized Campaign Practices and the Gendered Dynamics of Electoral Viability

“…We also expect that the stigmatization of face-to-face campaign will lead voters to display lower voting intention for candidates who engage in street campaigns. Electability is a key criterion shaping voter support in real elections in Brazil (Araújo and Gatto, 2021); accordingly, much of the literature on electoral violence and vote buying conveys that, by increasing perceptions of candidates' electoral strength, candidates' employment of stigmatized campaign practices also increases voters' support for said candidates. Unlike real elections in which voting is a private activity, surveys and interviews involve voters' public admittance of their attitudes and behaviors.…”