Tearns Without Uniforms
The Nonpartisan Ballot in State and Local Elections
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6339281 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brian F Schaffner, Bertram Schaffner (0000-0003-1953-2464, Indiana University), Matthew J Streb (Loyola Marymount University), Matthew Streb (Loyola Marymount University), Gerald Wright (0000-0002-5169-4212, Indiana University) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 7-30 |
| Publication date | 2001-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Research Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1065-9129 • E-ISSN: 1938-274X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591290105400101 |
| OpenAlex | W2006650489 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 125 |
| References cited | 19 |
The use of a nonpartisan ballot was one of the many Progressive reforms introduced around the turn of the century that is still heavily used today. The intent of the change to a nonpartisan format was, and still is, to remove party cues from a voter's decision, thereby causing the voter to seek out other information about a candidate. This study seeks to examine the effects of nonpartisan elections on patterns of voter decisionmaking. We examine the structure of electoral choice in partisan and nonpartisan elections at the state and local levels using paired comparisons and interrupted time series. Using precinct and district level voting data, we compare mayoral races in the sister cities of Champaign and Urbana (IL) and state legislative elections in Nebraska and Kansas. In addition, we examine the city of Asheville (NC) during its change from partisan to nonpartisan elections in the early 1990s and state legislative elections in Minnesota during its change from nonpartisan to partisan contests in the early 1970s. The analysis of these cases helps us to understand the effects of removing party identification from the ballot. We find that nonpartisanship depresses turnout and that in nonpartisan contests voters rely less on party and more on incumbency in their voting decisions. The nonpartisan ballot “works,” but how one evaluates the results depends on one's view of the electorate and the purpose of elections
Ballot · Legislature · Political science · Politics · Precinct · State (computer science · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Law · Public Administration · Social Media and Politics
The Street-Level Bureaucrats of Elections
Voter Rolloff in a Low-Information Context
Do You See What I See? Perceptions of Party Differences and Voting Behavior
Going National
Newspaper Closures Polarize Voting Behavior
Democracy More or Less
Partisan Versus Nonpartisan School Board Elections
Głosowanie klientelizmem pisane, czyli jak zwiększać szanse reelekcji w wyborach wójtów i burmistrzów
Plans Versus Political Priorities
The effect of public financing on candidate reemergence and success in elections
Political Determinants of Health
Partisan Pocketbooks
Voting “Ford” or Against
Campaign Capital, Resource Mobilization, and Candidate Performance in Local Elections
Demand and Supply
Does Brown beat Biesiada? Name fluency and electoral success
Ideology and Vote Choice in U.S. Mayoral Elections
La fortaleza de las candidaturas independientes y sus oportunidades de competencia frente a los partidos políticos en México
Church Engagement, Religious Values, and Mass‐Elite Policy Agenda Agreement in Local Communities
Fewer voters, higher stakes? The applicability of rational choice for voter turnout in Quebec municipalities
Candidate entry in a non-partisan context
Mobilizing the young vote
Who prefers nonpartisan elections? The role of individual party ID and county partisanship
Voter Information, Voter Participation, and the North Carolina Judicial Election Reforms
Campaign Endorsements and Election Outcomes in Judicial Elections
The Impact of High-Visibility Contests for U.S. State Court Judgeships
Public Interest `Blackballing' in South Korea's Elections
Cultural Worldviews and Contentious Politics
When Cues Collide
Voter Response to Salient Judicial Decisions in Retention Elections
Best of both worlds? Independent lists and voter turnout in local elections
Writing the Rules to Rank the Candidates
Party Identification in the 2008 Presidential Election
Polls and Elections Party Identification in the 2012 Presidential Election
Do School Report Cards Produce Accountability Through the Ballot Box
A Century of Municipal Reform in the United States
America's Uneven Democracy
Legislative Organization and the Second Face of Power
A New Look at the Republican Advantage in Nonpartisan Elections
Ballot Question Readability and Roll-Off
A Different Kind of Disadvantage
Candidate Choice Without Party Labels
Fit for the Job
Citizens, Representatives, and the Myth of the Decision-Making Divide
When Money Cannot Encourage Participation
The Limits of Mobilization
Making Sense of Heuristic Choice in Nonpartisan Elections
Party Identification and Vote Choice in Partisan and Nonpartisan Elections
Parties as an organizational force on nonpartisan city councils
Political Parties and the Representativeness Of Legislative Committees
When There's No Easy Way Out
Anti-Partyism in German Independent Local Lists
Voting for women in nonpartisan and partisan elections
Misleading ballot position cue
The role of partisan cues in voter mobilization campaigns
Getting things straight
Do citizens make inferences from political candidate characteristics when aiming for substantive representation
Do Institutions and Rules Influence Electoral Accessibility and Competitiveness? Considering the 2014 Toronto Ward Elections
Are You Picking Up What I Am Laying Down? Ideology in Low-Information Elections
Voters Who Abstain
Gender, Political Rhetoric, and Moral Metaphors in State of the City Addresses
The Size and Sources of Municipal Incumbency Advantage in Canada
Municipal Institutions and Voter Turnout in Local Elections
What Date Works Best for You? Changes in Electorate Demographics and Policy Priorities in Concurrent Elections
Representation in American Cities
Voting Can Be Hard, Information Helps
Winning Alone
The Role of the Information Environment in Partisan Voting
The Mobilization Solution? Face-to-Face Contact and Voter Turnout in a Municipal Election
Voting in State Supreme Court Elections
The Burden of Election Logistics
What Makes a Successful Candidate? Political Experience and Low-Information Cues in Elections
Partisan Labels and Democratic Accountability
Stare Decisisand the Electoral Connection
New-Style Campaigns in State Supreme Court Retention Elections
Gender, Ethnicity, and Ballot Information
Paying the Price for a Seat on the Bench
Incumbents Out, Party In? Term Limits and Partisan Redistricting in State Legislatures
The Letter after Your Name
No Republican, No Vote
Canons of Ethics and Accountability in State Supreme Court Elections
Public Perceptions of State Court Impartiality and Court Legitimacy in an Era of Partisan Politics
Individual Contributions to State Supreme Court Campaigns
Why So Few Women and Minorities in Local Politics
The Partisan Heuristic in Low-Information Elections
Prevalence and Moderators of the Candidate Name-Order Effect
Are You My Candidate? Gender, Undervoting, and Vote Choice in Same-Party Matchups
The electoral implications of politically irrelevant cues under demanding electoral systems
The effects of party labels on vote choice with realistic candidate differentiation
Campaigns, Mobilization, and Turnout in Mayoral Elections
Closest to the People? Incumbency Advantage and the Personal Vote in Non-Partisan Elections
Assessing the Impact of State Judicial Structures on Citizen Litigiousness
Conditions for Competition in Low-Information Judicial Elections
A Natural Experiment of Race-Based and Issue Voting
Crossover Voting Rates in Partisan and Nonpartisan Elections
The Increasing Nationalization of Local Elections
Ballot Information and Voting Decisions in Judicial Elections
Attack Advertising, the White Decision, and Voter Participation in State Supreme Court Elections
Charles Adrian and the Study of Nonpartisan Elections
Ideology and Local Public Expenditure Priorities
Participation and political equality
The Rational Public
Why Parties?
An economic theory of democracy
Party politics in America
The Effect of Partisan Information on Voters in Nonpartisan Elections
The Effect of Incumbency on State Legislative Elections
The Record of American Democracy, 1984–1990
The Effect of the Australian Ballot Reform on Split Ticket Voting
A Typology for Nonpartisan Elections
Political Science and World Stabilization
Unequal Participation
American Voter Turnout in Comparative Perspective
Reformism and Public Policies in American Cities
| Unique citing works | 125 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2001 - 2026 (26) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 121 |