Vote Congruence: The Role of Voting Rules, Political Sophistication, and the Supply Side

For voting to contribute to democratic ends, citizens must vote congruently with their preferences. This requires citizens to acquire and process information to identify the ballot options that best match their preferences and then express those preferences effectively through the act of voting. The latter, which this article focuses on, becomes increasingly relevant with complex voting rules that entail a multitude of ballot options and elaborate tools for casting ballots. Drawing on an original large-scale experiment in the field, I provide novel insights into how an interplay of the institutional setting (complexity of voting rules), the supply side (degree of selectivity of congruence and overall congruence between ballot options and citizens’ preferences), and individual characteristics (political sophistication) shapes vote congruence on an individual level. I demonstrate that, first, citizens on average vote more congruently under complex rules, providing evidence that they possess sufficient capacities to utilize enhanced voting tools effectively. Second, the more selectively citizens support the supplied ballot options, the more congruently they vote with complex rules. This suggests that in more diversified societies, where citizens’ preferences align less with distinct parties, complex rules likely have a stronger positive effect on vote congruence. Third, I find no conclusive evidence that casting ballots under complex rules disproportionately disadvantages less politically sophisticated citizens. Instead, the informational demands of complex rules appear to reinforce biases, echoing prior research. These findings underscore that beyond acquiring and processing information, the act of voting itself is crucial for understanding the determinants of vote congruence.