Getting Out the Overseas Vote: A Transnational Field Experiment

• In Event: Experimental Methods in Migration and Citizenship research

Abstract

Since 1990, overseas voting rights have been granted by over 100 countries around the world, reflecting the growing clout of diaspora communities in home country politics. Yet rates of electoral participation of emigrant citizens are often lower than expected. What drives migrants to vote from abroad, and how might participation rates improve? This study conducts a unique field experiment to test the impact of different get-out-the-vote messaging on voting rates by over 5,000 Dominican citizens residing in New York in the 2016 Dominican presidential election. Results of randomized treatment emails and text messages matched to voter turnout data show that vote reminder messaging has a positive effect on voter turnout in transnational elections, with messaging citing civic duty having the largest effect.

Authors

• Elizabeth Iams Wellman, Williams College

• Michael Ahn Paarlberg, Virginia Commonwealth University