Partisan Predispositions and Public Support for Making It Easier to Vote

Abstract

Public opinion on high-visibility election rules can be expected to reflect elite-level party divisions. We explain how partisanship affects support for, and opposition to, low-visibility convenience voting reforms. We find state-level factors such as quality of polling-place voting and party polarization explain some variance in support. However, individual-level factors are paramount. Attitudes about election reforms are strongly conditioned by partisan predispositions, with Democrats more supportive and Republicans more opposed. In addition, we find younger people, those with lower incomes, nonvoters, and people with disabilities were more likely to support proposals that might make voting easier. Although this cannot demonstrate that increased convenience voting would alter the composition of the electorate, it shows that, above and beyond partisanship, people who faced greater barriers to voting were most supportive of making voting easier. However, the dominant role of partisan predispositions suggests limits to rules changes that might make voting easier.