Voter Confidence and the Cost of Voting

• In Event: Trust and Confidence in Elections and Election Administration

Abstract

We consider how voter confidence is related to institutional state level costs of voting over three presidential elections (2012, 2016, and 2020). We use Li et al’s (2020) cost of index which derives the cost of voting for each state over time to measure institutional costs. We use survey data from the Survey of the Performance of American Elections (2012, 2016, and 2020), along with. “The 2020 Integrity of Voting Survey,” both of which use state designed samples to gain purchase on this question. We find evidence that as the institutional cost of voting increases that voters are more confident in their ballot being counted correctly and that this is especially consequential for voters assessing confidence at the state level. Importantly, the cost of voting does not predict national voter confidence. We consider the implications of these findings especially as they relate to Crawford V. Marion County.

Authors

• Robert M. Stein

• Lonna Rae Atkeson, Florida State University

• M.V. Hood, University of Georgia

• Eli McKown-Dawson, Florida State University