Does Vote-by-Mail Cause Voters to Gather Information About Politics?

• In Event: Demands and Impact of Electoral Reforms

Abstract

Previous research suggests that vote-by-mail electoral systems result in a more informed electorate. This is because vote-by-mail voters have additional time with their ballot and access to resources to conduct research about races on the ballot that they know nothing about. When voting at a polling place, on the other hand, voters are unable to gather information about unknown candidates and issues that they see on the ballot. A testable implication of this theory is that using a mail-in ballot will cause voters to be more informed than if they voted at a polling place. However, scholars have been unable to directly examine if vote-by-mail shapes how voters gather information about politics due to a dearth of sufficient data and credible research designs. In this paper, I estimate the effects of vote-by-mail on voter knowledge using an original panel survey that was fielded during the 2018 general election in California. I exploit the implementation of the California Voter's Choice Act (VCA), which resulted in five counties in the state switching to vote-by-mail in 2018, with difference-in-differences and instrumental variables models. I find that the VCA causes an increase in voter knowledge and an increase in time that voters spend gathering information about the election. These findings have broad implications for our understanding of how electoral reforms affect voter behavior and political accountability.

Author

• James Szewczyk