Ballot paper design: evidence from an experimental study at the 2009 local elections

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dc.contributor.authorReidy, Theresa
dc.contributor.authorBuckley, Fiona
dc.contributor.funderRoyal Irish Academyen
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-03T11:23:21Z
dc.date.available2020-06-03T11:23:21Z
dc.date.issued42307
dc.description.abstractThe overriding principle of ballot design is that it should not confer any a priori advantage to one candidate over another. Ballot format should not determine or condition an election outcome. Yet, there is a sizeable body of evidence which demonstrates that in many circumstances the design of ballot papers and voting machines contravenes the normative assumption of electoral neutrality. In this article, we look at the impact of ballot paper design at local elections in the Republic of Ireland (hereafter Ireland). The article uses data from an experimental election study conducted at the local elections in Ireland in 2009. Overall the study finds some evidence of a primacy effect and it also demonstrates that candidates located in the middle of the ballot face a challenge as they receive the lowest vote shares of all candidates across the four replica ballots. This mid-table obscurity remains even when party affiliation is known. Thus, it can be argued that candidates placed in such positions incur a disadvantage. To neutralise this effect, the article concludes with a recommendation that a system of random ordering of ballot positions across ballot papers should be implemented so as to ensure that each candidate appears at each ballot position on an equal number of times.en
dc.description.sponsorshipRoyal Irish Academy (Charlemont Grants scheme)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationReidy, T. and Buckley, F. (2015) ‘Ballot paper design: evidence from an experimental study at the 2009 local elections’, Irish Political Studies, 30(4), pp. 619-640. doi: 10.1080/07907184.2015.1100802en
dc.identifier.doi10.1080/07907184.2015.1100802en
dc.identifier.eissn1743-9078
dc.identifier.endpage640en
dc.identifier.issn0790-7184
dc.identifier.issued4en
dc.identifier.journaltitleIrish Political Studiesen
dc.identifier.startpage619en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/10115
dc.identifier.volume30en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherTaylor & Francis Groupen
dc.rights© 2015, Political Studies Association of Ireland. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Reidy, T. and Buckley, F. (2015) ‘Ballot paper design: evidence from an experimental study at the 2009 local elections’, Irish Political Studies, 30(4), pp. 619-640, doi: 10.1080/07907184.2015.1100802, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2015.1100802. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/en
dc.subjectBallot paper designen
dc.subjectBallot positionen
dc.subjectIrish electionsen
dc.subjectPR-STVen
dc.titleBallot paper design: evidence from an experimental study at the 2009 local electionsen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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