Gerber et al on Ballot Secrecy and Turnout (AJPS)

Now in print in the July 2013 issue of the American Journal of Political Science: Alan Gerber, Greg Huber, David Doherty (Loyola University), Conor Dowling (U Mississippi) and Seth Hill (UCSD) published a paper describing a field experiment in which they mailed information about protections of ballot secrecy to registered voters prior to the 2010 general election. They find that these letters increased turnout for registered citizens without records of previous turnout, but they did not appear to influence the behavior of citizens who had previously voted.

Gerber , A. S., Huber , G. A., Doherty , D., Dowling , C. M. and Hill , S. J. (2013), Do Perceptions of Ballot Secrecy Influence Turnout? Results from a Field Experiment. American Journal of Political Science, 57: 537–551. doi: 10.1111/ajps.12019