Abstract

Election administrators anecdotally mention that many ballots get signed by someone else in the household, such as the husband signing the wife's ballot. If household members are signing each other's ballots mistakenly, then there should be a rise in mismatched signatures as the number of people in the household increases. By matching household addresses of registered voters and the addresses that ballots were mailed to from the 2020 Florida general election, the study found that the probability of a signature mismatch did increase as the number of household members increased. While the data showed that black and Hispanic households have more people in a household, the household size did not account for the higher rates of signature mismatches among blacks and Hispanics. This research proposes placing the voter's name under the signature line to reduce the number of mismatched signatures. Other envelope design features, such as arrows, power of attorney notices, and layout, were measured to determine the effectiveness of envelope designs. Simpler design features were more effective. If the voter's name can be added under the signature line without disruption, it could decrease the number of ballots signed by the wrong household member. Overall, household members signing the wrong ballot contribute approximately one additional mismatched signature per 100,000 ballots. With over 15 million voters in Florida, where close elections and recounts are the norm, preventing this problem from occurring can make a difference in electoral outcomes.

Notes

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu

Graduation Date

2021

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Jewett, Aubrey

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

School of Politics, Security and International Affairs

Degree Program

Political Science

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0008914; DP0026193

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0026193

Language

English

Release Date

December 2021

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Download

Share

COinS