Voter Confusion in Surabaya: The Problem of Ballot Design and Incompetence [Kebingungan Pemilih di Surabaya: Masalah Desain Kertas Suara dan Inkompetensi]

The simultaneous scheme in the 2019 elections in Indonesia caused voter confusion, especially in the legislative elections. Citizens who are confused and disappointed when voting candidates characterize the declining quality of representation in electoral democracy. This study aims to determine the factors of confusion among citizens when they are in the voting booth. The case study research was conducted in Surabaya by interviewing 54 residents after the general election using recalling questions and in-depth interviews. The results show that the voter confusion factor is the effect of the complex design of the 2019 legislative election ballot paper, the lack of socialization about election procedures, and the difficulty of respondents understanding the simultaneous election models. The competency category shows that voter confusion is the respondents' low interest in political discussions and inadequate political knowledge. These two competence issues affect the quality of voters' political participation. Voter confusion in Surabaya generally motivates the phenomena of incorrect and misleading voting.AbstrakSkema serentak dalam pemilu 2019 di Indonesia menimbulkan fenomena kebingungan pemilih, khususnya pada pemilihan legislatif. Warga yang bingung dan kecewa pada saat memilih kandidat mencirikan menurunnya kualitas representasi dalam demokrasi elektoral. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan faktor-faktor kebingungan warga saat berada di bilik suara. Penelitian studi kasus dilakukan di Surabaya dengan mewawancarai 54 warga pasca pemilihan umum dengan menggunakan teknik recalling question dan deep interview. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa faktor kebingungan pemilih merupakan efek dari desain kertas suara pemilihan legislatif 2019 yang kompleks, minimnya sosialisasi mengenai tata cara pemilu, dan sulitnya responden memahami pemilihan model serentak. Kategori kompetensi menunujukkan bahwa kebingungan terjadi karena rendahnya ketertarikan responden dalam diskusi politik dan rendahnya pengetahuan politik. Dua masalah komptensi ini berefek pada kualitas partisipasi politik pemilih. Kebingungan pemilih di Surabaya secara umum memotivasi fenomena incorrect voting dan misleading voting.

Party-related primacy effects in proportional representation systems: evidence from a natural experiment in Polish local elections

We study the primacy effects that occur when voters cast their votes because a candidate or party is listed first on a ballot. In the elections that we analyzed, there are three potential types of such effects that might occur when voters vote for (1) the first candidate listed on the ballot in single-member district (SMD) elections (candidate primacy); (2) the first party listed on the ballot in open-list proportional representation (OLPR) elections (party primacy); or (3) the first candidate on a party list in OLPR elections (list primacy). We estimated the party primacy effect (2) and established that there was no interaction between (2) and (3). A party primacy effect is especially difficult to estimate because parties’ positions on ballots are typically fixed in all multi-member districts (MMDs) and it is impossible to separate the first-position “bonus” from a party’s normal electoral performance. A rare natural experiment allowed us to estimate the primacy party bonus between 6.02 and 8.52% of all votes cast for the 2014 Polish local elections. We attribute the large size of such bonus to the great complexity of voting in the OLPR elections, especially the much longer ballots, voting in many simultaneous elections, and ballot design as a booklet rather than a sheet.

Designing a Deliberative Peace Referendum

This chapter outlines the generic Deliberative Peace Referendum model. We introduce key innovations such as a modestly coercive referendum ballot design that encourages public-reason based deliberation. We also point to more established institutional options (eg, mini-publics) and where these may fit the referendum process. The generic Deliberative Peace Referendum model is amendable to modification, especially in light of the various types of conflict in which it may apply.

Grabbing Life by the Ballot: Creating an Effective Ballot through Design

This presentation, reflecting a politics undergraduate thesis, will explore the design process behind the ballots that voters use in democratic elections around the world. Ballots are an inherently political objects, and in many cases, the most direct line of communication a citizen has to the government of their country. As such, the design of the ballot affects the legitimacy of higher level electoral and democratic institutions. This project argues that by co-opting the language of product design, a universal ballot design process would make more efficient ballots across the globe. Product design starts with a brainstorming stage that explores at the user, the goal of the object, and the context of its use to create an effective design. By applying these observations to the process of designing a ballot, each electoral commission can produce a more effective ballot. Currently there is no standardization for ballot design other than ensuring that electoral commissions tried to make it “friendly.” By examining cases of bad ballot design, it is possible to see what element of the design process was missed or misused to create a process that corrects for these mistakes. This project examines poorly designed ballots in Florida, Scotland, and Colombia to explore the large-scale effects these small design choices make, and how to fix them.

Exploring Scale Direction Effects and Response Behavior Across Pc and Smartphone Surveys

The effects of scale direction on response behavior are well known in the survey literature, where a variety of theoretical approaches are discussed, and mixed empirical findings are reported. In addition, different types of survey completion devices seem to vary in their susceptibility to scale direction effects. In this study, we therefore investigate the effect of scale direction and device type on response behavior in PC and smartphone surveys. To do so, we conducted a web survey experiment in a German non-probability access panel (N = 3,401) using a two-step split-ballot design with four groups that are defined by device type (PC and smartphone) and scale direction (decremental and incremental). The results reveal that both PCs and smartphones are robust against scale direction effects. The results also show that response behavior differs substantially between PCs and smartphones, indicating that the device type (PC or smartphone) matters. In particular, the findings show that the comparability of data obtained through multi-device surveys is limited.

Ballot Paper Design and Vote Spoiling at Polish Local Elections of 2014: Establishing a Causal Link

Large proportions of spoilt ballots may lead to a distortion of election results. While invalid votes are sometimes meaningful political acts, reflecting political protest, spoilt ballot papers may also be a consequence of voter error, which can be attributed to the poor design of a ballot paper. In this study, we focus on the widely publicized case of the Polish local elections of 2014. These elections saw unprecedentedly large proportions of spoilt votes, and ballot paper format was often mentioned as a potential culprit. Yet it remains largely unclear whether or not there indeed does exist a cause-and-effect relationship between ballot card format and the tendency of voters to cast invalid votes. We argue that what we deliver here is the first methodologically refined test of the aforementioned hypothesis. We apply the generalized synthetic control comparative method, proposed by Yiquing Xu (in 2017), and show that the implementation of a complex or ambiguous ballot design can result in a substantial increase in the rate of spoilt votes. We thus demonstrate that ballot paper design matters. Specifically, the results of this study corroborate the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship between ballot paper format and the fraction of invalid votes in the 2014 municipal elections in Poland.

When do consultative referendums improve democracy? Evidence from local referendums in Norway

Consultative referendums may provide crucial information about public opinion but have received little attention in the literature compared with their binding counterparts. In this article, we analyse 221 Norwegian local consultative referendums on municipal amalgamation using the Venice Commission’s code on referendums. Much of the referendum literature suggests that consultative referendums are in fact binding. The municipal councils followed the outcomes of the referendums in most cases, but 14% chose to go against it. While the overall impression is that the outcomes of consultative referendums are seen as binding, the data indicate that ballot design may affect voters’ choice as well as council decisions. Although many democratic standards were met, the wording of questions and alternatives on the ballot paper were problematic in a number of cases – reducing the democratic value of the citizens’ advice.