Dr. Maya Shankar

I think they like to think, oh, of course, I'm just going to vote for the person that I'd most like to see elected into office, right?

I think they like to think, oh, of course, I'm just going to vote for the person that I'd most like to see elected into office, right?

That's just common sense.

That's just common sense.

But it turns out that the order in which the candidates' names appear on the ballot can have a profound impact on who gets vote share from different voters.

But it turns out that the order in which the candidates' names appear on the ballot can have a profound impact on who gets vote share from different voters.

In Texas, they found that if a candidate's name appeared first on the ballot, that candidate received a 10 percentage point boost in voter share relative to those listed below.

In Texas, they found that if a candidate's name appeared first on the ballot, that candidate received a 10 percentage point boost in voter share relative to those listed below.

And so this is, again, a very surprising feature, right?

And so this is, again, a very surprising feature, right?

We might not think that the order in which the candidates' names appear has this outsized impact, but once we understand that, we can then design ballots in ways that actually randomize the order of candidates' names across ballots in order to help solve this problem.

We might not think that the order in which the candidates' names appear has this outsized impact, but once we understand that, we can then design ballots in ways that actually randomize the order of candidates' names across ballots in order to help solve this problem.

In government, there were so many instances where we had designed a really impressive program or policy, but it just wasn't reaching Americans in the way that we had hoped for.

In government, there were so many instances where we had designed a really impressive program or policy, but it just wasn't reaching Americans in the way that we had hoped for.

So a good example of this is I worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

So a good example of this is I worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

They were really eager to have veterans sign up for an educational and employment benefit that they could use after they had served our country overseas.

They were really eager to have veterans sign up for an educational and employment benefit that they could use after they had served our country overseas.

And this was a very valuable benefit because, as you can imagine, the transition from military to civilian life can be quite jarring, full of lots of obstacles and hurdles psychologically and physically.

And this was a very valuable benefit because, as you can imagine, the transition from military to civilian life can be quite jarring, full of lots of obstacles and hurdles psychologically and physically.