Encouraging Black and Latinx Radio Audiences to Register to Vote: A Field Experiment

• Published date: 01 September 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X231184437
• Author: Hayley Cohen,José Gomez,Donald P. Green,Joseph L. Sutherland,Michelle A. Zee
• Date: 01 September 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

American Politics Research

2023, Vol. 51(5) 559–569

© The Author(s) 2023

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1532673X231184437

journals.sagepub.com/home/apr

Encouraging Black and Latinx Radio

Audiences to Register to Vote: A Field

Experiment

Hayley Cohen

1

, Jos ´

e Gomez

1

, Donald P. Green

1

, Joseph L. Sutherland

2

, and

Michelle A. Zee

3



Abstract

Traditional in-person voter registration drives increase voter registration rates in minority communities but became infeasible

during the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic. An alternative approach is to promote registration through mass media, such as local

radio. We present results from a large-scale experiment testing the effects of radio ads on voter registration. During the run up

to the November 2020 election, we identif‌ied 186 radio stations with predominantly Latinx or African American audiences;

50 randomly selected stations were assigned to a week-long advertising campaign each week for 3 weeks. Nonpartisan messages

encouraged voter registration by stressing the importance of the election and featured celebrity voices. The number of new

registrants rose slightly in treated areas during the week when the ads aired. No further gains were apparent one or 2 weeks

later.

Keywords

voting, voter registration, elections, mass media

Introduction

For millions of eligible voting-age citizens, registration is the

pivotal impediment to voting. Although a few states do not re-

quire registration or allow voters to register on Election Day, the

vast majority require registration well in advance of Election Day.

The study of voter turnout therefore requires an understanding of

the conditions under which people become registered.

Registration requirements seem to amplify socio-

demographic differences in electoral participation. The Census

Bureau reports that 73% of adult citizens were registered to

vote in November 2020.

1

Registration rates among citizens

who are newly eligible to vote tend to be low (Holbein &

Hillygus, 2020). People who change residences are especially

prone to let their registration lapse (Gay, 2012).Certain ethnic

minorities, such as p eople classif‌ied as Hispanicby the Census,

have particularly lowrates of registration, even when rates are

calculated solely for U.S. citizens (Fraga, 2018).

What can be done to increase the number of registered

voters? An extensive literature dating back several decades

has considered various institutional reforms, such as allowing

voters to register closer to Election Day, automatic regis-

tration when renewing drivers licenses, and pre-registration

among those not yet old enough to vote. These institutional

changes are thought to increase registration rates overall and

for minorities, although perhaps not as effectively as early

proponents had hoped (Green & Schwam-Baird, 2016;

Hanmer, 2009;McGhee & Romero, 2019).

An alternative approach, and the focus of this essay, is to

encourage unregistered people to become registered. A small

but growing experimental literature has evaluated the ef-

fectiveness of such outreach efforts. Neighborhood-based

registration campaigns have proven effective at increasing

registration rates and, importantly, subsequent rates of voter

turnout even in the absence of follow-up encouragements to

vote (Nickerson, 2015). The same is true for high school-

based outreach efforts that include encouragements to register

(Addonizio, 2012). Less personal tactics have had mixed

success. Mailings from state registrars have increased

1

Department of Political Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

2

Department of Quantitative Theory & Methods, Emory University, Atlanta,

GA, USA

3

Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, Columbia University, New

York, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Donald P. Green, Department of Political Science, Columbia University, 420

W. 118th Street, New York, NY 10027-6902, USA.

Email: dpg2110@columbia.edu