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Electronic Voting and Perceptions of Election Fraud and Fairness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2015

Emily Beaulieu
Emily Beaulieu*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Kentucky, 1615 Patterson Office Tower, Lexington, KY 40506, USA; e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This paper contributes to a growing body of research on voting technology and voter confidence, which generally concludes that voters are less confident in technology—particularly in developed democracies. Using a unique survey experiment, this paper demonstrates that far fewer individuals are concerned about election fraud involving electronic voting, compared with other potential forms of election fraud such as registering ineligible voters or voter suppression. Other interesting findings emerge from the data: Older individuals are more concerned about fraud with electronic voting but the effects of age appear to be conditioned on political polarization. This paper advances our understanding of the impact of voting technology on electoral confidence, and raises important substantive and methodological questions about priming.

Keywords

Survey experimentvoter confidenceelectronic votinge-votingelectionselection fraudpriming
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Experimental Political Science , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , Spring 2016 , pp. 18 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © The Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2015 

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