FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED: THE EFFECT OF BALLOT POSITION ON ELECTORAL SUCCESS IN OPEN BALLOT PR ELECTIONS

Abstract

How much does a candidate's ballot position matter for electoral success? In the Swiss open ballot PR system, voters can cast up to 34 preference votes—depending on the district magnitude—for candidates from different parties. The ballot position has a clear and robust effect on the candidates' number of preference votes. Candidates listed first attract more preference votes from their own party voters as well as from voters from other parties. Being last on a ballot is penalised because voters strike out candidates at the bottom when giving preference votes to some candidates. The effect becomes smaller, but remains significant, once we include alphabetically ordered ballots only.