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Let's Be Fair: Do Polling Locations Prime Votes?

Ben Pryor, Jeanette Morehouse Mendez and Rebekah Herrick

States are making it easier for voters to vote through alternative means, such as mail-in voting. This paper examines a potential benefit of this change: freer and fairer elections by depressing the priming effects of voting locations. A growing body of literature is examining the potential priming effects of voting locations with somewhat mixed results. This paper adds to the literature by examining voting on three ballot items on same-sex marriage and one on education in three states, and predicts that voters casting ballots in churches are less supportive of same-sex marriage and voter’s casting votes in schools are more supportive of education policies. We find that voter’s casting votes in schools are more likely to support an education ballot item; but we did not find voter’s casting votes in churches are less supportive of same-sex marriages, instead they are more supportive. Overall, the results do indicate substantial differences in voting preferences by voting location.