Electronic voting and invalid votes: evidence from a natural experiment in Peru

Aragón F.M.; Chong A.; Cozzubo A. · Public Choice (2026) · DOI: 10.1007/s11127-025-01321-1

Resumen

This paper examines the impact of electronic voting in Peru. Our empirical analysis exploits variation from a natural experiment to implement a difference-in-difference strategy. Our estimates indicate that electronic voting reduced the share of invalid votes by almost two-thirds. This reduction appears to be driven by fewer voter errors rather than changes in protest voting. However, in contrast to recent studies, we find no evidence of substantial changes in other electoral outcomes, such as turnout or vote composition. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.

Instituciones: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú; Universidad del Pacífico