Date of Award

Spring 5-2-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Economics

First Advisor

Monica Das

Second Advisor

Marketa Wolfe

Third Advisor

Rodrigo Schneider

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) on voter turnout and state-level government spending. It studies Oregon’s implementation of AVR in 2016 compared to Oklahoma using four difference-in-difference models using county-level voting data from the 2014 and 2018 Oregon and Oklahoma gubernatorial elections. Next, it discusses whether the policy could have an effect on government expenditure on health. The findings show a statistically significant increase of about 14,657 registered voters per county and a decrease of 14.4% in voter turnout. Because the decrease in turnout was less than the increase in the number of registered voters, the implementation of AVR did lead to an increase in voter turnout. Analysis including income in the model showed that counties with higher income voted more than those with less income in the elections in question, signifying some level of income bias. The income bias led to the study of the median voter theorem’s role in the turnout change, and this paper finds that Oregon spent less on health compared to the rest of the United States in 2019. These results suggest that while AVR decreases costs associated with voting, it does not necessarily lead to drastic increases in turnout or policy changes. The findings contribute to electoral reform literature and show the need for complementary policies to existing voting initiatives.

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