Voter Decision Affected by Polling Place, Study Finds [View All]

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: National Geographic

Researchers in a new study found voters were more likely to approve a school-funding initiative if they were assigned to cast their ballot at a school.

Numerically the effect was small: In the precincts analyzed, the initiative earned 2 percent more votes at schools than it did from voters assigned to churches, community centers, and other locations.

But "it's big in sense that it would be big enough to tip the scales in a close election," said study leader Jonah Berger, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

For example, in 2000, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 0.009 percent of the votes officially counted in Florida to win the U.S. presidency.



Read more: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080623-polling-places_2.html

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Interesting study. Although the authors caution that more study is needed, this raises a lot of fascinating questions: Would voting at a church effect church/state separation issues (or abortion rights)? How does voting at a "senior center" affect the voting? What would be the most "neutral" place to hold elections?