Mobilizing the young vote: Direct mail voter guides in the 2015 Chicago mayoral election

Abstract

Previous studies have shown nonpartisan direct mail interventions have a small turnout effect. It is less clear, however, what effect these interventions have with regard to cognitive mobilization of young voters. We report the results of a large (N=52,324) experiment conducted during the February 2015 mayoral election in Chicago. A random sample of 22,179 registrants between 18 and 30 were sent a voter guide containing two sets of orienting political information for the five candidates: a list of their endorsements and their policy positions on five issues in the campaign. We find turnout among the treated group was 0.9 points higher than the control group which did not receive a guide (33.6% compared with 32.7%; SE is 0.003). We find, however, that treated registrants in above-median household income census tracts are significantly more likely to vote than treated registrants in lower-income census tracts.