Psychological Effects of Different Voting Rules - Evidence from Romania

Abstract

This paper focuses on the psychological effects of different voting rules on voters. For this purpose I use the results of two quasi field experiments run in multiple localities during the 2012 Romanian local and general elections. The analysis focuses on three main aspects. Firstly, I look at the impact of different voting rules on the aggregate results of the elections. Preliminary analysis seems to indicate that under most rules the top option does not change, while under some, second and third places do change, especially under more permissive rules that allow voters to express more than one preference. Secondly, I focus on vote consistency under different rules and compare it to the true preference profile. Preliminary analysis seems to indicate that most Romanian voters do not have a full preference profile, most have quite consistent preferences regardless of the rule and some are quite reluctant to indicate more than one preference even when the rule allows it. Finally, I discriminate between psychological and mechanical effects and estimate them. The paper concludes with a discussion on how cultural and historical factors might determine Romanians to employ this type of behavior.