Policy Research

Getting things straight: The effects of ballot design and electoral structure on voter participation

Chris W. Bonneau, Eric Loepp

Summary

This article examines the relationship between straight ticket voting (STVO), partisan/non-partisan elections and ‘roll-off’, or when voters vote for top level nominations but then fail to vote for all of the races on their ballot. The authors used data from judicial races from 1990-2008. The authors find several relationships of interest: in states with STVO, and partisan judicial elections, voters were much more likely to complete their ballot. The authors also argue that “that when the STVO is on ballots featuring nonpartisan races, participation in those nonpartisan races will decrease”- this is due to accidental roll-off. This is not the case in states without STVO and non-partisan elections, where the completion rate is still low, the authors posit, due to voter fatigue. “So, the STVO in nonpartisan elections adds another potential cause of voter nonparticipation into the mix. On the other hand, when the STVO is available on ballots featuring partisan down ticket races, participation should increase.”

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Policy Implications

The authors summarize best: “If a state with the STVO is considering a move from partisan to nonpartisan elections, policymakers should know that this change will result in dramatically lower levels of participation in those elections. On the other hand, since the STVO bolsters participation in partisan down-ticket races, some states may feel that the loss of some participation in the nonpartisan elections is offset by gains in other races”. Further, states that eliminate straight ticket voting can expect dramatic impacts in down ballot voting participation due to voter fatigue and lack of information on the candidates.