We have used incentives successfully in local and state races in California
through the years - a dozen donuts, a 2 for 1 chicken dinner, a 2 for 1 taco
dinner. In all cases the turnout among the targeted audience was measurable
higher than the turnout among that same audience in prior elections and other
groups for the same election. Unfortunately, these were all a long time ago and
no data is available now. The last time I did it was 1979. In every case there
were no federal offices on the ballot. Attorneys had advised it would be illegal
to do the same thing in a federal election.
In 1995 we were able to demonstrably drive up the turnout among a group of
800 habitual non-voters through a program of repetitive mailings and phone calls
encouraging the voter to vote by mail. Again, the actual data no longer exists.
But as I conducted the program I am certain of the result.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 6:56
AM
Subject: [EL] giving incentives to
turnout to vote
I saw an experiment recently where the researchers offered people a small
incentive to vote without offering it for a vote for any candidate/issue. It
wasn't clear from the experiment, as I recall it, if the results were due to
the incentive or the contact with the person informing them of it (a general
GOTV contact), but I am wondering if this kind of experiment runs into any
legal issues. The authors felt not (I believe they said they had asked some
lawyers to look into it but agreed that it might be a grey area in some
states).
Is there general argeement on this? Or does it vary by state? I
think the authors gave some examples of incentives at polling places as part
of their defense, but I don't recall what they were (beyond the "I voted"
sticker). I.e., do some (smaller) communities have coffee and donuts at the
polling place, etc.?
Doug Hess
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