How Lines at the Precinct Depress Future Turnout

Researchers have increasingly paid attention to the impact that the administrative component of elections has on voter behavior. Existing research has focused almost exclusively on the effect that legal changes–such as voter identification laws–have on turnout. This paper extends our understanding of the electoral process by exploring how one aspect of the precinct experience–standing in line to vote–can shape the turnout behavior of voters in subsequent elections. I demonstrate that for every additional hour a voter waits in line to vote, their probability of voting in the subsequent election drops by 1 percentage point. To arrive at these estimates, I analyze vote history files using a combination of exact matching and placebo tests to test the identification assumptions. I then leverage an unusual institutional arrangement in the City of Boston and longitudinal data from Florida to show that the result also holds at the precinct level. The findings in this paper have important policy implications for administrative changes that may impact line length, such as voter identification requirements and precinct consolidation. They also suggest that racial asymmetries in precinct wait times contribute to the gap in turnout rates between white and non-white voters.

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National Vote At Home Institute on Passing of SB202 in Georgia

The National Vote At Home Institute has released a statement following the passing of Senate Bill 202 in the Georgia State Legislature that was signed into law by Gov. Kemp last week: “Senate Bill 202 is a massive missed opportunity to move Georgia forward and build on the record participation of the 2020 election. The […]

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National Vote At Home Institute Denounces the President’s Continued Attacks on Democracy and Affirms Their Mission to Protect American Elections

The American people have continued to exercise their right to vote despite ongoing disinformation campaigns to overturn a free and fair election. As President Trump continues his public calls to undermine our constitution, democracy, and election systems, the National Vote At Home Institute released the following statement:  “The President’s false claims continue to undermine the […]

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Does Voting by Mail Increase Fraud? Estimating the Change in Reported Voter Fraud When States Switch to Elections By Mail

U.S. voters recently participated in the 2020 general election, which determined the next president as well as other public officials at the federal, state, and local level. While Election Day was officially Tuesday, November 3, many voters cast their ballots early—either in person or by mail. This article examines the claim that states can expect more cases of voter fraud when ballots are distributed by mail. It does not consider the consequences of early in-person voting or other challenges facing voting by mail, such as the timeliness of the U.S. Postal Service or the reporting of election results. Nor does it consider whether voters are more likely to incorrectly mark their ballots or whether election workers are more likely to incorrectly reject ballot.

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Voters Decide, Not Arbitrary Timelines

Earlier today, the President displayed his lack of constitutional and election administration knowledge by, yet again spreading misinformation about the counting of ballots and the timeline of a presidential election. His remarks do nothing more than sow doubt in our strong elections system and confuse voters on what they should expect November 3 and beyond.  […]

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Mail Ballot Security Features: A Primer

(Brennan Center) — Jurisdictions across the country have a range of security features to protect mail ballots from misconduct. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans are using mail ballots in record numbers this year. Fortunately, the use of mail ballots is not a newfangled idea; it was already deeply embedded in the American electoral system before the coronavirus hit.

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Election Workers Are the Backbone of the American Election System

Today, President Trump pivoted his misinformation campaign around vote-at-home options by claiming that election officials and poll workers — those who count ballots after they are cast — will be the cause for a miscount during the general election. In doing so, he removed potential blame he had previously placed on the United States Postal Service. 

Without evidence, the President stated that, “The problem is when they dump all these [ballots] in front of a few people who are counting them, and they’re going to count them wrong. The post office is not to blame.”

In regard to his claims, the National Vote At Home Institute released the following statement: 

“Election workers are some of the most dutiful people in our country. Election administrators take an oath before assuming their office and are committed to making our patchwork election system work in communities across the nation. They do this work alongside poll workers of all different backgrounds — our neighbors and friends — who come together to carry out one of our most sacred democratic traditions. In order to do so, they commit their mornings, nights, and weekends to ensure that ballots cast are ballots counted. The fact that they have now come under attack is completely unacceptable, and Americans cannot let them become victims of a misinformation campaign. In fact, we urge Americans to join their neighbors in becoming poll workers and to invest themselves in the process of making every vote count. Without election workers, our election system would be impossible to administer, and they deserve the utmost respect and support.”

The participatory and partisan impacts of mandatory vote-by-mail

Policy-makers disagree on the merits of mandatory vote-by-mail. Many of these debates hinge on whether mandatory vote-by-mail advantages one political party over the other. Using a unique pairing of historical county-level data that covers the past three decades and more than 40 million voting records from the two states that have conducted a staggered rollout of mandatory vote-by-mail (Washington and Utah), researchers used several methods for causal inference to show that mandatory vote-by-mail slightly increases voter turnout but has no effect on election outcomes at various levels of government. Their results find meaning given contemporary debates about the merits of mandatory vote-by-mail. Mandatory vote-by-mail ensures that citizens are given a safe means of casting their ballot while simultaneously not advantaging one political party over the other.

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