Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.

 

24 October 2014

100,000 Stanford/Dartmouth mailers were sent to Montanans

Rogue researchers at Stanford and Dartmouth sent 100,000 bogus voter guides to Montana, according to Stanford spokeswoman Lisa Lapin. Her summary of the project is below. The study’s ostensible purpose? “…to learn whether, if voters are provided more information about candidates, those voters will be more likely to participate in the process.”

The study’s real purpose? At a minimum, to burnish the academic credentials of the researchers. And perhaps that’s all it was, ambition, arrogance, and appallingly poor judgment. But I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the notion that people smart enough to be hired by such prestigious universities could be so stupid and irresponsible.

Backstory. The mailer still hasn’t shown up in my mailbox. I learned about on Facebook a couple of hours after dinner yesterday. A friend in Helena posted a complaint. I asked for and received high resolution scans, researched and wrote overnight, and posted my first story at approximately 0500. I also sent Dr. Bonica, the principle investigator at Stanford, an email asking for comment. I haven’t received a reply from him, and I rather doubt I will. At this point I suspect Stanford’s lawyers have told him to say or write nothing. If so, that’s good advice.

Provided by Lisa Lapin, Stanford University

DESCRIPTION OF THE VOTER STUDY CONDUCTED BY DARTMOUTH AND STANFORD RESEARCHERS

The political science researchers at Stanford and Dartmouth study the democratic process and voter participation in the United States, and their study is seeking to learn whether, if voters are provided more information about candidates, those voters will be more likely to participate in the process.

The study design was nonpartisan in nature and not intended to favor any particular candidate nor influence the outcome of any race. The study is independent, with no involvement or prior consultation with state officials or candidates in any of the study locations. The study was reviewed and approved to go forward by the Dartmouth Institutional Review Board.

This academic research study uses publicly available campaign finance information, based on where candidates’ supporters have made political contributions, to provide additional information about candidates in nonpartisan races. This type of information is available online for voters and is often published by news organizations to illuminate races.

The research study seeks to compare voter participation levels in precincts that receive the additional information with voter participation in precincts that do not. The precincts involved in the study were selected on a random basis.

The study has been conducted in three states. In September, 66,000 voters in New Hampshire received information about candidates in one congressional district. And this week, information about two Supreme Court elections was sent to 100,000 voters throughout Montana, and information about candidates was sent to 143,000 voters in two congressional districts in California.

The study is described by the faculty members on their Web site, and detail about other similar studies can be found there as well: http://data.stanford.edu/dime