Can Citizens Cast a Congruent Vote in Multi Issue Referenda? Findings from an Experiment in the Field with Enhanced Policy Voting (EPV)

Referenda have been criticized for various limitations in their design. For instance, each referendum only concerns a single substantive issue, which limits the number of issues that citizens can influence using referenda. Multi issue referenda have the potential to address such concerns. Moreover, critics point to the binary yes/no option on ballots of most referenda, which prevents citizens to express their degree of support. Multi options referenda and weighted voting could address these concerns. Enhanced Policy Voting (EPV) mitigates both mentioned limitations of the design of common referenda: EPV has a multi issue ballot. Party lists that are comprised of multiple substantive issues are organized in columns on the EPV ballot. In addition to choosing between complete party lists, citizens may utilize voting tools to modify the ballot in order to cast a vote that is congruent with their preferences: Cumulative voting allows to express the degree of support. Cross voting allows them to allocate votes to any issue, even when they are located in different party lists. And discarding allows them to withhold votes for distinct issues in the party list that they voted for. While the EPV in principle enables citizens to cast a congruent vote, there is doubt whether citizens actually have the capacities to do so. In addition to citizens’ ability to decide on policies, it is called into questions if citizens possess the capacities for utilizing complex voting procedures, such as EPV, purposefully. Ambivalent findings on cumulative voting procedures in elections add to this scepticism. In my paper, I investigate citizens’ capacities for voting on multiple issues at once and their capacities for utilizing voting tools to cast a congruent vote. I draw on data from an experiment in the field of EPV, which was conducted in cooperation with a German municipality in 2017. Over 800 citizens participated. The experiment provides strong evidence that citizens have sufficient capacities for casting a congruent vote in multi issue referenda. Moreover, the level of ballot congruence for the experimental group with EPV is statistically and practically significantly higher than in both control groups, suggesting that citizens also have the capacities for purposefully utilizing the complex EPV. Contrary to expectations derived from studies on cumulative voting in elections, the level of education did not have statistically significant effects on the level of ballot congruence. The findings of this paper indicate that citizens possess the capacity to participate in complex voting procedures. This concerns multi issue referenda as much as cumulative voting procedures in elections. My research, thus, contributes to efforts to further advance the design of referenda. And more specifically, the experiment in the field shows that Enhanced Policy Voting (EPV) poses a promising addition to the toolbox of democratic innovations.