Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Increased Access To Mail-In And Absentee Voting Due To Covid-19 On Voter Turnout In The 2020 Presidential Election, Irene Catlin Hedeman

Undergraduate Economic Review

With new voting policies in the fallout from the 2020 election, it is critical to understand their effects on voter turnout. I use a difference-in-differences approach to study effects of absentee voting policies from the fall of 2020 on voter turnout in four states. Using county-level data on the 2008-2020 presidential elections, I estimate turnout based on the county’s policy for the 2020 election. I use three sets of states, and I find positive effects on voter turnout for all three sets, two of which are significant. The results from the Montana policy hold through the robustness checks.