Internet voting and turnout: Evidence from Switzerland. (June 2017)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Internet voting and turnout: Evidence from Switzerland. (June 2017)
- Main Title:
- Internet voting and turnout: Evidence from Switzerland
- Authors:
- Germann, Micha
Serdült, Uwe - Abstract:
- Abstract: Internet voting (i-voting) is often discussed as a potential remedy against declining turnout rates. This paper presents new evidence on the causal effect of i-voting on turnout, drawing on trials conducted in two Swiss cantons: Geneva and Zurich. Both Geneva and Zurich constitute hard cases for i-voting, given that i-voting was introduced in the presence of postal voting. However, this setting allows us to test some of the more optimistic claims regarding i-voting's ability to increase turnout. Empirically, we exploit the advantageous circumstance that federal legislation created a situation coming close to a natural experiment, with some of Geneva's and Zurich's municipalities participating in i-voting trials and others not. Using difference-in-differences estimation, we find that i-voting did not increase turnout in the cantons of Geneva and Zurich. Highlights: We investigate the effect of Internet voting on turnout in two Swiss cantons. In both cantons, Internet voting was introduced in the presence postal voting. Drawing on difference-in-differences estimation, we find no turnout effect.
- Is Part Of:
- Electoral studies. Volume 47(2017:Sep.)
- Journal:
- Electoral studies
- Issue:
- Volume 47(2017:Sep.)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 47 (2017)
- Year:
- 2017
- Volume:
- 47
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2017-0047-0000-0000
- Page Start:
- 1
- Page End:
- 12
- Publication Date:
- 2017-06
- Subjects:
- Internet voting -- Electoral turnout -- Electoral participation
Elections -- Periodicals
Voting -- Periodicals
324.6 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02613794/ ↗
http://www.elsevier.com/journals ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1016/j.electstud.2017.03.001 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0261-3794
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 3670.890000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 101.xml