Do get-out-the-vote (GOTV) drives mobilize voters in all elections or just in high stakes elections?
 
Background
 
Many campaigns use GOTV drives with face-to-face campaigning to increase turnout among people who consistently do not vote.  To test whether or not face-to-face campaigning mobilizes nonvoters researchers only looked at citizens who typically do not vote when analyzing 11 field experiments.
 
Results

• Face-to-face campaigning is better at getting people who usually vote to vote compared to nonvoters in small elections.
• Face-to-face campaigning is better at getting nonvoters to vote in prominent elections rather than small elections.
• Campaigns should pay attention to who they want to get to the polls and the type of elections they are campaigning for.

 
Link to Study

Do members of the same household share similar voting behaviors because of their influence on each other?
 
Background
 
There have been studies showing that members of the same household share similar voting behaviors on average.  Researchers performed a face-to-face canvassing experiment in various cities.  They visited households with two registered voters.  Residents who answered the door received either a Get Out the Vote message or a recycled pitch.  Then they looked at whether or not the person in each household who did not answer the door went to vote.
 
Results
 

• 60% of the households passed on a propensity to vote to other members of the household.
• It is likely that civic participation norms are adopted within households.
• It is likely that couples grow more similar over time in their voting behavior.

 
Link to Study

Do voter registration drives get more people to vote and if they do, what type of person do they encourage to vote?
 
Background
 
It is difficult to measure how much voter registration drives actually increase voter turnout.  The field experiment focused on city streets in six cities.  Streets in the cities were randomly assigned to receive visits from canvassers trying to register voters.  Researchers categorized the streets based on prior voter turnout.
 
Results

• Door-to-door canvassing caused around 11 new registrations on each street.
• Registration does pose a barrier to voting.
• The experiments were conducted across many different cities and elections so the results can be applied to a range of settings.
• Canvassing is estimated to increase voting in rich and poor neighborhoods equally.

 
Link to Study
 

Can contact with a campaign increase voter turnout?
 
Background
 
There are a lot of studies on campaigns but there haven’t been many conclusions on how effective campaign efforts are in politics.  In 2006, in California’s 44th District, there was a local State Assembly seat open.  Democratic activists wanted to get voters to the polls.  They used a variety of methods to contact citizens: phone, email, door hanger, face-to-face contact, and other forms of contact.  Using this natural experiment political scientists determined the effect of campaign contact on voter turnout.
 
Results
 

• This campaign increased voter turnout by around 850 votes.
• It was effective in increasing turnout among newly registered voters.
• It was also effective in increasing turnout with voters with a variety of voting histories.
• Campaign managers can make reasonable choices to increase voter turnout.

 
Link to Study
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Can state officials increase local officials’ compliance with federal laws using subtle messages or hints?
 
Background
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There are federal laws requiring voter registration to be available at certain government agencies, but many counties do not follow these laws.  The experiment involved two states.  In one state the timing of the training of local government employees was randomly changed.  In the other state the content of e-mails sent by the election office to certain agencies was randomly changed.
 
Results 

• Both experiments increased voter registration attempts.
• This happened in agencies and offices that were already trying to register people
• These subtle messages, through email and training, can cause improvement for some agencies but probably not for the offices that need it the most.

 
Link to Study