Does where you vote matter? Polling location priming for state ballot issues

Abstract

Voters are primed in numerous ways throughout the campaign. This priming connects a candidate, party or policy, to criteria used to evaluate the candidate, party or policy. While the research on printing typically focuses on advertising and the media, we examine the extent to which polling location primes voters and affects the outcome of three state questions in the 2004 Oklahoma elections. Using state questions related to forming a lottery system to fund education and a state question to ban same-sex marriage, we find voters are primed when voting at schools when the state question concerns education; however voting at a church does not provide a signal for those voting on the issue of same-sex marriage. Overall differences do exist in support of these issues based on polling locations and we argue that polling location does have the potential to prime