Prof. Moehler discusses her research at Cornell University conference

Devra C. Moehler, Ph.D.

Devra C. Moehler, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Communication, delivered the talk, “Parties on the Ballot: Visual Cues and Voting Behavior in Uganda” at Cornell University Oct. 13 as part of a conference by the Institute for African Development. An abstract on her talk follows:

 

 

Electoral ballots in developing countries typically contain party symbols, photos, and other information thought to facilitate informed voting by citizens with low levels of education, political knowledge, and voting experience. However, these cues might shape voter decisions—and, hence, election outcomes—in unintended ways.  We conducted a survey experiment days prior to the February 2011 elections in Uganda to test the effects of party identifiers and other features on ballot papers.  Respondents were asked to mark randomly assigned ballots that included or excluded different visual and verbal cues about the actual candidates. Our preliminary findings indicate that party cues induce straight-ticket voting and selection of major parties rather than independents. Surprisingly, the party cue effects are similar in magnitude to experimental results from established party systems, despite the fact that multi-party elections are only five-years old and parties do not distinguish themselves along policy lines in Uganda.  These findings challenge the conventional view that party cues are consequential because they activate longstanding partisan identities or signal policy preferences.  We argue that party cues in Uganda provide information about patronage networks rather than policy positions.  Party identifiers on ballots are more likely to undermine rather than enhance accountability mechanisms in new and unstable party systems.