In the Eye of the Beholder? Motivated Reasoning in Disputed Elections

This study uses an experimental design to simulate the ballot counting process during a hand-recount after a disputed election. Applying psychological theories of motivated reasoning to the political process, we find that ballot counters’ party identification conditionally influences their ballot counting decisions. Party identification’s effect on motivated reasoning is greater when ballot counters are given ambiguous, versus specific, instructions for determining voter intent. This study’s findings have major implications for ballot counting procedures throughout the United States and for the use of motivated reasoning in the political science literature

The abilities and decisions of regular and irregular voters in American presidential elections

<p>While most of the voter turnout literature focuses on the differences between voters and nonvoters, scant attention has been paid to what separates regular voters from the “irregular voters” who move in and out of the electorate. This article shows that citizens who regularly vote will be more knowledgeable and involved in the political system than voters who turnout irregularly. In addition, the article supports the existing claim that it is easier for voters to understand social policies than economic policies. These two principles lead to the hypothesis that economic and social policy preferences will predict the decisions of regular voters while the decisions of irregular voters will be predicted by social policy preferences but not economic preferences. American National Election Studies data from 1988 to 2008 provide support for these hypotheses. Though poor economic conditions may bring irregular voters out to the polls, their ballots are cast for candidates with similar social policy preferences, not necessarily similar economic stances.</p

Can Florida’s recount be done fairly? Maybe. Here’s what makes the difference.

Eighteen years after the infamous recount to decide Florida’s vote in the 2000 presidential election, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner announced on Thursday that the state will conduct a manual recount of ballots in this year’s election for U.S. Senate — potentially overturning the slim lead currently held by Republican Gov. Rick Scott over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson. So how will Florida go about recounting these ballots? And can voters expect a fair count, or will it be tainted by partisanship? Let’s look at what Florida law says about recounting ballots — and what political science research says about how that process actually might work

In the Eye of the Beholder? Motivated Reasoning in Disputed Elections

This study uses an experimental design to simulate the ballot counting process during a hand-recount after a disputed election. Applying psychological theories of motivated reasoning to the political process, we find that ballot counters\u27 party identification conditionally influences their ballot counting decisions. Party identification\u27s effect on motivated reasoning is greater when ballot counters are given ambiguous, versus specific, instructions for determining voter intent. This study\u27s findings have major implications for ballot counting procedures throughout the United States and for the use of motivated reasoning in the political science literature. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC