Beyonce-Taylor Swift Effect? Impact of Online Voter Registration on Voting

• In Event: Impact of (Non-political) Life Events on Voter Registration

Abstract

Americans went to the polls on November 6, 2018 at record-breaking rates for a mid-term election. Weeks prior to the election, efforts to increase voter registration across the states also increased, with celebrities encouraging their fans to register to vote through social media. How successful were these efforts to boost voter registration and turnout? And how instrumental was Online Voter Registration (OVR) in ensuring that voter registration mobilization resulted in registering to vote, and casting a vote on Election Day? In other words, was there a “Beyoncé-Taylor Swift” Effect in play in 2018? In this paper, we track the online activity of Americans who accessed vote.org’s website in a 72 hour period after Beyoncé’s and Taylor Swift’s respective social media posts encouraging followers to register via vote.org. These posts drove record breaking traffic to vote.org’s voter registration tool. We argue that individuals from OVR states who accessed the website during this period were more likely to successfully register and vote than states without OVR. Individuals from non-OVR states had to go through more steps to submit their voter registration form, thus decreasing their chances of becoming new voters in 2018. Our findings show a strong and positive impact of OVR on political engagement and participation, especially in states with restrictive voter registration deadlines.

Authors

• Christopher B. Mann, Skidmore College

• Thessalia Merivaki, Mississippi State University