Crossover Voting Rates in Partisan and Nonpartisan Elections: Evidence From Cast Vote Records

We provide the first examination of the extent to which voters cast ballots for copartisan candidates in nonpartisan elections using cast vote record (CVR) data. These records permit direct observation of whether demonstrably partisan voters vote for copartisan candidates at the same rate in partisan and nonpartisan local elections. We find that voters classified as partisan based on their vote choices in federal/state elections cast ballots for candidates—whose partisanship we ascertain based on their primary election voting records—from the opposing party at higher rates in nonpartisan compared to partisan elections. We also find that partisan voters appear to respond to the race and gender of the candidates, but those heuristics do not always line up in the predicted partisan manner for voters. These results suggest that many voters cast ballots in nonpartisan elections that they may not have otherwise with more complete partisan information about the candidates.