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CAMPAIGN EFFECTS OF EARLY VOTING
Author(s) -
Busch Andrew E.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
southeastern political review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 0730-2177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.1998.tb00503.x
Subject(s) - voting , political science , disapproval voting , voting behavior , boosting (machine learning) , outcome (game theory) , public relations , public economics , economics , computer science , microeconomics , law , politics , machine learning
While attention has been focused on the goal of boosting voter participation, early voting reforms adopted by numerous states may also have important effects on the conduct of campaigns and the outcome of elections. By summarizing the national debate over the campaign effects of early voting, this paper identifies five primary questions. A case study of Colorado addresses those five questions. Early voting does substantially alter campaign dynamics. It takes campaigns several election cycles to adapt, and campaigns which make serious efforts to adapt are much more likely to win. Hypotheses that early voting drives up campaign costs and reduces late negative campaigning are not supported by the evidence. Finally, despite the beliefs of candidates that early voting does not systematically help either party and that it does systematically help incumbents, available evidence indicates that early voting helps Republicans fairly consistently but does not systematically benefit incumbents.