On sample ballots across Texas, Republican candidates appear before Democrats. The KHOU 11 Verify Team found out that it was because of the results of the gubernatorial race. Since a Republican won the race, by Texas law Republicans get dibs on the first position.
On social media, one post claims voter manipulation, because candidates from other parties appear before the Republican candidate for President, Donald Trump, on the North Carolina ballot. The rules on ballot position are different for every state. WCNC Charlotte VERIFY found out North Carolina's Election Board uses a system that involves a bingo ball machine and coin flip.
Although Texas does not have such an elaborate way of randomly selecting positions, Texas in some instances has to have a drawing for ballot order. According to The Texas Secretary of State's Office, this will occur when there's more than one independent candidate for an office. The drawing is only for those candidates to determine ballot order, and does not affect the other candidates in the same race. The state election office handles drawings that will be the statewide ballot, and local offices preparing the ballot handle drawings for their respective ballots.
THE QUESTION
Do candidates who appear first on the ballot have an advantage?
THE SOURCES
Texas Secretary of State's Office
Brandon Rottinghaus, University of Houston Political Science Professor
Texas Election Code
MIT Election Data and Science Lab
THE ANSWER
Yes, candidates who appear first on the ballot have an advantage.
WHAT WE FOUND
It's been more than 20 years since Democrats have appeared ahead of Republican candidates in Texas. Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston, Brandon Rottinghaus says, "Republicans have got a solid built-in incumbent advantage. The state law allows them to be listed first because they won the past governor's election."
According to research done by MIT Election Data and Science Lab, candidates can get an advantage because their names appear first on the ballot. Dubbed the 'ballot order effect' the research goes back decades.
Rottinghaus says, "For voters with very little information, sometimes they're picking randomly, literally picking the first person on the ballot. That often means that that first person gets a bit of a bump. The studies range anywhere from between 1% to about 10%. It depends on the kind of race." The MIT research shows the greatest advantage comes in races where there's little information for voters about the candidates.
Rottinghaus encourages voters to do their homework on candidates before heading to the polls to vote, "To be a voter means you have to do some studying. You have to look at the ballot, you have to figure out who you want to vote for. Sometimes it's easy and you can vote on party if that's your preference. But other times it may not be that instructive. So understanding who is on the ballot, understanding where they stand on the issues, and then having your preferences from that is really important."
