Does preferential voting affect voting turnout? A laboratory experiment

This dissertation examines whether preferential voting affects voter turnout through a controlled laboratory experiment. The study addresses a theoretical distinction often left implicit in the literature on electoral systems: the difference between the decision to participate and the way participation is expressed once voting occurs. Participants took part in repeated voting rounds under three conditions: a baseline party-voting condition, a non-incentivized preference-voting condition, and an incentivized preference-voting condition. The results show that turnout remains high and statistically stable across the three conditions. The introduction of a preference option does not produce a significant increase in participation. However, preference expression varies substantially across treatments. Participants use the preference option more frequently when it is costless and expressive than when it is attached to a cost and a prediction-dependent reward. This suggests that preferential voting may matter less by mobilizing abstainers than by reshaping the expressive dimension of participation. The dissertation therefore contributes to the literature on turnout, electoral systems, and preferential voting by showing that institutional design may affect not only whether citizens vote, but also what voting allows them to express.