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The Resilient Voter Shauna Reilly

The Resilient Voter By Shauna Reilly

The Resilient Voter by Shauna Reilly


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Summary

Authors Reilly and Ulbig explore the ways in which stressful polling place conditions cause voters to cast ballots in a manner contradictory to their preferences. Using an experimental approach, they find that even though voters generally withstand such conditions, certain segments of the electorate can still be adversely affected.

The Resilient Voter Summary

The Resilient Voter: Stressful Polling Places and Voting Behavior by Shauna Reilly

The Resilient Voter: Stressful Polling Places and Voting Behavior provides a new perspective on the role voting barriers play, demonstrating that they not only discourage participation but also affect the quality of votes cast. Offering an interesting and unique approach to the study of voting barriers, Shauna Reilly and Stacy G. Ulbig investigate the possibility that complicated ballot language, provisional voting, and long polling place lines cause some voters to cast ballots in a manner contradictory to their preferences. Building on arguments that stressful polling place conditions subject citizens to stress that can prevent them from casting complete ballots or even choosing to vote at all, the authors ask whether those who endure polling place frustrations and persevere to cast a ballot might become so stressed by their experience that they are unable to mark their ballots in a manner consistent with their standing policy preferences. Using a creative experimental design, the authors examine the ways in which complex ballot language, registration difficulties, and long polling place lines affect voters' stress levels, and how such anxieties translate into the willingness to cast a complete ballot and the ability to vote in a manner conforming to previously expressed preferences. The authors demonstrate that even though most voters prove remarkably resilient in the face of some potentially stressful polling place barriers, they are not immune to all polling place conditions. Further, they illustrate that some segments of the electorate tend to be more vulnerable to polling place stressors than others and illustrate the ways in which the compound effects of multiple barriers can exert an even wider impact.

The Resilient Voter Reviews

Reilly (Northern Kentucky Univ.) and Ulbig (Sam Houston State) hypothesize that stress introduced into the voting process can have negative consequences for voters, causing some to decline to complete their ballots or to vote in ways inconsistent with their true policy preferences. Compelling introductions to each chapter pull from recent events covered in the news media and in previous research. The new contribution is data from a mock election experiment conducted at a large undergraduate university, with participants randomly assigned to having to wait to cast their ballots or being challenged at the polling place and directed to complete a provisional ballot. Prior to voting, participants completed a survey indicating their preferences on various issues; those issues were then incorporated into constitutional amendment ballot items on marijuana, abortion, and same-sex marriage. The estimated effect sizes are small and rarely statistically significant. Provisional ballots and long, arbitrary, and unexplained wait times do not seem to make voters more stressed or less able to express their preferences at the polls (at least in this one experiment). Further research is needed, but if the findings hold, this is good news for those who face adversity at the polls. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through faculty. * CHOICE *
Reilly and Ulbig have produced a novel study on the impact of stressful polling place conditions on voters. They identify several areas where the voting process can be improved. -- David Kimball, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Reilly and Ulbig creatively combine literature on correct voting, election administration, and stress. They present well-crafted evidence that polling place pandemonium causes stress that affects a voters' ability to vote consistently with policy preference. This work advances convincing evidence that polling place problems are stressful and make it tough to vote correctly. Reilly and Ulbig show why it is so important to improve polling place processes and provide strong research that adds to the importance of making voting as smooth as possible on Election Day. Both scholars and election administrators should absolutely read this book. -- Martha Kropf, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Most prior works focus exclusively on variables that shape turnout or whether or not an individual will show up to vote on Election Day. . . . We need more works like The Resilient Voter, where the focus is not upon whether an individual turns out to vote but rather what happens to that voter between the time that the voter shows up to the polls on Election Day and when the final ballot is cast. * Public Opinion Quarterly *

About Shauna Reilly

Shauna Reilly is associate professor of political science at Northern Kentucky University. Stacy Ulbig is professor of political science at Sam Houston State University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Voting Barriers: The Obstacle Course of Electoral Participation Chapter 2: Sweating the Vote: Polling Place Stress as a Voting Barrier Chapter 3: Studying Polling Place Stress: An Experimental Approach Chapter 4: Can You Read Me? Ballot Access Complexity and Voter Behavior Chapter 5: Does a Placebo Ballot Lead to a Voting Headache? Provisional Ballots and Voter Behavior Chapter 6: The Waiting is the Hardest Part? Polling Place Wait Times and Voter Behavior Chapter 7: Are the Barriers Higher for Some Voters? The Conditional Effects of Polling Place Stressors Chapter 8: Dealing with Polling Place Stressors: Conclusions and Implications Appendix A: Subject Recruitment Appendix B: Pre-Test Survey Appendix C: Post-Test, Mock Election Ballot Appendix D: Measures, Coding, and Distribution of Responses Bibliography

Additional information

NLS9781498533546
9781498533546
149853354X
The Resilient Voter: Stressful Polling Places and Voting Behavior by Shauna Reilly
New
Paperback
Lexington Books
2019-10-28
192
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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