Ballot design and split ticket voting in multiparty systems: Experimental evidence on information effects and vote choice

Abstract

This article presents the results of a large-scale e-vote experiment, conducted during the 2005 Congressional Election in Argentina, measuring the effect of different e-vote designs on split ticket voting. The experiment demonstrates that ballot design and e-vote technology significantly affect split ticket voting and the overall outcome of elections in multiparty settings. We explain these differences by analyzing the information cues used by voters when searching for their preferred parties and candidates. We show that cues that reinforce party-centric information on the ballot, such as the party name or the party logo, significantly decrease split ticket voting. By contrast, priming on candidate-centric features in the ballot significantly increases split ticket voting. We test for biases that result from selectively disclosing information on candidates or parties among voters with different levels of information.