Did explaining the legal protections of ballot secrecy increase voter turnout? A field experiment mailed information about these protections to registered voters before the 2010 U.S. election.
This intervention significantly raised turnout among those without prior voting records by over three percentage points (a ~20% jump). However, it had no effect on regular voters with established histories.
The observed increase in participation for inexperienced voters was substantially larger than that from standard voter-getting mailings targeting this demographic. This suggests a gap exists between legal realities and citizens' beliefs about ballot secrecy, particularly among those new to voting.
