Civic design bibliography


Identifying the Effect of All­Mail Elections on Turnout: Staggered Reform in the Evergreen State

In 2005, the state of Washington passed legislation allowing counties to conduct VBM elections at their discretion.  This article analyzes voter turnout data in statewide elections from 1996-2010 between VBM and non-VBM counties, in order to account for election-specific confounding factors.

The authors show that:

  • The switch from traditional polling place elections to VBM increases turnout by 2-4%, depending on the type of election.
  • VMB is more likely to increase turnout among low-frequency voters than among those who already vote often.

Links

Gerber, A. S., Huber, G. A., & Hill, S. J. (2012). Identifying the Effect of All­Mail Elections on Turnout: Staggered Reform in the Evergreen State. Political Science Research and Methods, 1( 1), 1-116.