More Evidence on the Effects of Voting Technology on Election Outcomes

We present new empirical evidence on the relationship between voting technology and election outcomes. First, using data on nine elections in the Netherlands, we distinguish between the introductory and the more permanent effects of electronic voting. Second, we distinguish between national and municipal elections, which have different incentives to fraud given the Dutch system of proportional representation. Third, we test for a possible asymmetry between the effect of moving from paper ballots to electronic voting, and the effect of reverting to paper ballots. Fourth, we control for the density of polling stations. This is crucial as the introduction of voting machines usually goes along with a reduction in the number of polling stations. Using two different data sources – municipality-level data on actual voting behavior and a panel survey among eligible voters – we find small positive effects of electronic voting on voter turnout, a substantial negative effect on the fraction of residual votes, and no effect on the share of left wing parties. ----------Allers: Department of Economics, University of Groningen; [email protected] Kooreman: Department of Economics, Tilburg University; [email protected] We thank Kees Aarts and two anonymous referees for helpful comments, and Enrico Moretti for stimulating discussions.