Choice fatigue is the phenomenon where people become overwhelmed and exhausted by the number of choices they have to make, which in turn may affect their decision quality and satisfaction. Choice fatigue can occur in various domains, such as consumer behaviour, judicial decisions, and health care. But how is this phenomenon related to so called ballot fatigue, which is the tendency of voters to abstain or rely on heuristics when faced with too many decisions on the ballot?
Contents
What is ballot fatigue?
Ballot fatigue is a specific form of choice fatigue that occurs in the context of voting. It refers to the situation where voters become less likely to cast a vote or make an informed choice as they move down the ballot, especially when there are many candidates or measures to choose from. Ballot fatigue can also be caused by the frequency of elections, which may reduce the motivation and interest of voters to participate in the democratic process.
According to Wikipedia, ballot fatigue can be used as a criticism of the direct democracy system, in which voters are constantly asked to decide on policy via referendums or recall elections. For example, in 2012, the electorate of the American city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin had to vote eight times in one year due to various local and national elections. In the run-up to the 2019 UK General Election, some media outlets suggested that the electorate would be suffering from voter fatigue, and that this would impact the result of the ballot and the turnout.
How does ballot fatigue affect voter behaviour?
Ballot fatigue can have significant consequences for voter behaviour and electoral outcomes. According to a paper by Augenblick and Nicholson, ballot fatigue can increase the likelihood of undervotes, which are ballots that are left blank or incomplete for a given contest. The authors exploit a natural experiment in which voters face the same contest at different ballot positions due to differences in the number of local issues on their ballot. They find that facing more decisions before a given contest increases precinct-level undervotes by 0.11 percentage points. Given the average ballot position (15.7) and level of undervotes of contests in their data (21.6%), this suggests that choice fatigue is responsible for 8% of undervotes in these contests.
Ballot fatigue can also affect the actual decision, given that a decision was made. The paper by Augenblick and Nicholson shows that voters are more likely to use decision shortcuts as they become more fatigued, such as voting for the status quo or the first-listed candidate. These heuristics can introduce biases and distortions in the preferences of voters, and potentially result in outcomes that do not reflect the true will of the people. For example, the authors estimate that 6% of the propositions in their dataset would have passed rather than failed if there was no choice fatigue.
How can ballot fatigue be reduced?
There are several possible ways to reduce ballot fatigue and improve voter behaviour. Some of these methods are:
- Legislating fixed terms for elections, to ensure that elections are not held too often. This can reduce the frequency of choice fatigue and increase the salience and importance of each election.
- Simplifying and shortening the ballot, to reduce the number and complexity of choices that voters have to make. This can reduce the cognitive effort and time required to evaluate each option and increase the likelihood of completing the ballot.
- Providing more information and education about the candidates and measures on the ballot, to reduce the uncertainty and confusion that voters may face. This can increase the confidence and competence of voters to make informed choices.
- Randomizing or rotating the order of candidates or measures on the ballot, to reduce the effects of primacy or recency biases that may arise from choice fatigue. This can increase the fairness and representativeness of electoral outcomes.
Conclusion
Choice fatigue is a phenomenon that affects decision making in various domains, including voting. Ballot fatigue is a specific form of choice fatigue that occurs when voters face too many decisions on the ballot or too frequent elections. Ballot fatigue can lead to increased abstention or reliance on heuristics, which can affect voter behaviour and electoral outcomes. There are several possible ways to reduce ballot fatigue and improve voter behaviour, such as legislating fixed terms for elections, simplifying and shortening the ballot, providing more information and education about the candidates and measures on the ballot, and randomizing or rotating the order of candidates or measures on the ballot.
