Theories of how Alvin Greene won South Carolina's Democratic Senate primary include fraud and fortunate ballot placement. Here's a new one: pushy technology.
The Palmetto State uses machines that prompt voters with a red-lettered warning if they pass on any particular contest. On paper, at least, Americans tend to abstain from races with candidates they've never heard of; fewer votes get cast farther down the ballot—a pattern called "roll-off." The Greene race came after the one for education superintendent, but the roll-off was just 10 percent—low, say political analysts, for a race in which the better-known candidate had a 4 percent favorable rating. So voters who were "techno--cajoled" into reconsidering the Greene race might have voted for him just to finish the process, and because he was first on the ballot, helping explain his 18-point margin of victory.
With a quarter of the U.S. voting digitally, the prompt effect has likely happened before—and will again. It just took the prominence of a U.S. Senate contest to get our attention.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
