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The Effect of Split-Ticket Voting Cost on Electoral Enfranchisement

The features of electoral systems can affect electoral outcomes even for fixed societal preferences. We analyze a quasi-experiment around a staggered change from a paper ballot to an electronic ballot system, which reduces the cost of split-ticket voting. A high cost to split the ticket favors straight-ticket voting, i.e., choosing the same party in all electoral races. If voters care the most about a single-seat race and if they are voting straighttickets, then the single-seat race drives the decision about which party to vote on all races. Therefore, strategic voting considerations on the single-seat race have spillovers to other races, negatively affecting small parties even in races with a proportional representation system. We show how the reduction in the cost to split the ticket increases the number of split-ticket votes and improves the performance of small parties in multiple-seat races. This results in higher political competition.

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Ciencia y tecnología | Democracia | Desarrollo institucional | Logística | Tecnologías de la información y comunicación (TIC)

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Argentina

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https://scioteca.caf.com/handle/123456789/1991

Date

2022-12

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6.1 Documentos de trabajo en investigación socioeconómica

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The Effect of Split-Ticket Voting Cost on Electoral Enfranchisement.pdf (7.04 MB)

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