Vertical Proximity Effects in the California Recall Election

The 2003 California recall election provides a unique opportunity to assess the impact of variations in ballot design and voting methods on the voting accuracy of citizens. Analysis of the results of the California Recall election demonstrates that candidates who were vertically adjacent to the top...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sled, Sarah M.
Format: Working Paper
Language:en_US
Published: Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96545
_version_ 1811095184896688128
author Sled, Sarah M.
author_facet Sled, Sarah M.
author_sort Sled, Sarah M.
collection MIT
description The 2003 California recall election provides a unique opportunity to assess the impact of variations in ballot design and voting methods on the voting accuracy of citizens. Analysis of the results of the California Recall election demonstrates that candidates who were vertically adjacent to the top three vote getters received “extra” votes in the recall election – a vertical proximity effect. Combined, these ‘neighbor’ candidates received approximately 4 votes per thousand votes the top candidate received. The pattern is consistent across the candidates neighboring Schwarzenegger, Bustamante, and McClintock, and is noticeably higher for punch cards than for optical scan or touch screen voting technologies.
first_indexed 2024-09-23T16:12:00Z
format Working Paper
id mit-1721.1/96545
institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
language en_US
last_indexed 2024-09-23T16:12:00Z
publishDate 2015
publisher Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project
record_format dspace
spelling mit-1721.1/965452019-04-11T01:17:54Z Vertical Proximity Effects in the California Recall Election Sled, Sarah M. California recall Ballot order effects Ballot design Neighbor effects The 2003 California recall election provides a unique opportunity to assess the impact of variations in ballot design and voting methods on the voting accuracy of citizens. Analysis of the results of the California Recall election demonstrates that candidates who were vertically adjacent to the top three vote getters received “extra” votes in the recall election – a vertical proximity effect. Combined, these ‘neighbor’ candidates received approximately 4 votes per thousand votes the top candidate received. The pattern is consistent across the candidates neighboring Schwarzenegger, Bustamante, and McClintock, and is noticeably higher for punch cards than for optical scan or touch screen voting technologies. 2015-04-14T16:48:02Z 2015-04-14T16:48:02Z 2003-10-27 Working Paper http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96545 en_US VTP Working Paper Series;8 application/pdf Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project
spellingShingle California recall
Ballot order effects
Ballot design
Neighbor effects
Sled, Sarah M.
Vertical Proximity Effects in the California Recall Election
title Vertical Proximity Effects in the California Recall Election
title_full Vertical Proximity Effects in the California Recall Election
title_fullStr Vertical Proximity Effects in the California Recall Election
title_full_unstemmed Vertical Proximity Effects in the California Recall Election
title_short Vertical Proximity Effects in the California Recall Election
title_sort vertical proximity effects in the california recall election
topic California recall
Ballot order effects
Ballot design
Neighbor effects
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96545
work_keys_str_mv AT sledsarahm verticalproximityeffectsinthecaliforniarecallelection