Voting Technology and the Election Experience: The 2009 Gubernatorial Races in New Jersey and Virginia

In this paper, we examine the attitudes of voters regarding the voting experience in the 2009 gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia. We focus especially on the way in which voting technology experiences that voters have had affect their confidence in the voting process, their attitudes toward fraud and reform, and other aspects of the voting process. We find that voters are sensitive to the voting mode they use—in person voting compared to absentee voting—as well as to whether they get to vote on the technology they prefer (paper versus electronic). Finally, the privacy that voters feel in the voting process is also important in shaping the voter’s confidence.