Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Francesco Armillei
Author-Name: Enrico Cavallotti
Title: Concurrent elections and voting behaviour: evidence from an Italian referendum
Abstract: In September 2020 Italy held a constitutional referendum. On the same election days, many municipalities and some regions held municipal and regional elections. We exploit this unique occasion, caused by the unexpected Covid-19 crisis, to obtain a causal estimate of the effects of the overlap of concurrent elections on the referendum results. When the referendum overlaps with either municipal or regional elections, we find a positive effect on turnout and on the proportion of blank and null votes. We also find a quantitatively small but statistically significant effect on the referendum preferences. We interpret the results through the use of the calculus of voting model, exploiting a slightly modified version of the most widespread one in the literature. Our findings are relevant from a policy-making standpoint, with respect to both fostering turnout and reducing election organizational costs.
Classification-JEL: 
Keywords: Concurrent elections, Voting behaviour, Referendum, Calculus of voting
Length: 37
Number: 21164
Creation-Date: 2021
File-URL: https://repec.unibocconi.it/baffic/baf/papers/cbafwp21164.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 1244
Handle: RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp21164