Voter Mobilization Can Backfire: Evidence from Kenya⇤
نویسندگان
چکیده
Voter mobilization campaigns face trade-offs in fragile democracies. In a large-scale experiment implemented in 2013 with the Kenyan Electoral Commission, text messages intended to mobilize voters boosted participation but also decreased trust in electoral institutions, a decrease that was stronger in areas that experienced election-related violence, and for individuals on the losing side of the election. The mobilization backfired because the Commission promised an electronic voting system that failed, resulting in manual voting and tallying delays. Using a simple model, we show that mobilizing voters can affect beliefs about institutional capacity and fairness of the election, potentially having negative consequences.
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