Ascencio, Sergio and Chang, Han Il (2024) Does Vote Buying Undermine Confidence in Ballot Secrecy? Theory and Experimental Evidence. Political Science Research and Methods. pp. 1-20. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2024.54 (In Press)
Ascencio, Sergio and Chang, Han Il (2024) Does Vote Buying Undermine Confidence in Ballot Secrecy? Theory and Experimental Evidence. Political Science Research and Methods. pp. 1-20. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2024.54 (In Press)
Ascencio, Sergio and Chang, Han Il (2024) Does Vote Buying Undermine Confidence in Ballot Secrecy? Theory and Experimental Evidence. Political Science Research and Methods. pp. 1-20. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2024.54 (In Press)
Abstract
Why does vote buying persist under the secret ballot? We argue initiating vote-buying transactions allows politicians to undermine voter confidence in the secret ballot, and thus to induce voter compliance. Our analysis consists of three parts. First, we present evidence from a survey experiment in Mexico that shows receiving material goods from a candidate diminishes voter confidence in ballot integrity. Next, we introduce an informational theory of vote buying that explains this phenomenon. Specifically, we develop a model of vote buying as a signaling game, in which a voter who is ex ante uncertain about a politician’s capacity to monitor voter behavior learns new information from the politician’s actions. Finally, we test the key insights from the model in a lab experiment. Our results suggest that, under certain conditions, offering material goods to voters is sufficient to erode their confidence in ballot secrecy, making vote buying effective.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Comparative politics: political behavior; elections and campaigns; experimental research; voting behavior |
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Government, Department of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 22 Jul 2024 15:03 |
Last Modified: | 30 Oct 2024 21:22 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/38289 |
Available files
Filename: AscencioChang_PSRM.pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0