Working Paper

Do Voting Advice Applications Change Political Behavior?

Christine Benesch, Rino L. Heim, Mark Schelker, Lukas D. Schmid
CESifo, Munich, 2021

CESifo Working Paper No. 8868

We analyze how the introduction of the voting advice application smartvote in Switzerland affects voter turnout, voting behavior, and electoral outcomes. The Swiss context offers an ideal setting to identify the causal effects of voting advice applications using real-world aggregate data because smartvote was introduced in different cantons at different points in time. We find that smartvote does not affect turnout but that voters more actively select candidates instead of parties by splitting their ballot. Our findings suggest that no specific party seems to benefit from the change in voting behavior.

CESifo Category
Public Choice
Keywords: elections, information, internet
JEL Classification: D700, D720