Democracy in distress? Examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on voter behavior in the 2020 general election in the Greater Boston Area

The conditions of a highly anticipated election during the COVID-19 pandemic present an opportunity to further understand how voting accessibility influenced voting behavior in the 2020 United States general election. At the time of the election, nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as wearing a facemask, physical distancing, and crowd avoidance, were the primary defenses against contracting and spreading the virus. In response to the pandemic, several states enacted emergency voting laws that extended early voting days, loosened restrictions on acquiring an absentee ballot, and provided accessible ballot drop-off locations to reduce health and safety barriers to voters during the pandemic. This study uses a mixed methods design to investigate the motivating factors of voting behavior among Democrat and Independent voters in the Greater Boston Area in the 2020 general election. Based on data from an original survey of 169 individuals and 56 follow-up interviews conducted in early 2021, we find that the predicted probability of being a convenience voter (voting by mail, early voting, ballot drop box, or dropping their ballot at their polling location) goes from 50 % (p < .001) among those who did not express safety concerns related to voting to 82 % (p < .0001), an increase of 32 %. These findings were further triangulated in follow-up interviews with the survey participants. In our follow-up interviews, we also found that electoral integrity was a concern among both traditional and convenience voters; many individuals made a plan to vote in person, vote early, or drop their ballot off at a polling site or drop box to ensure their vote was counted. More broadly, the implications of this research place importance on state election law and election administration in a time of crisis. We expect that in a future crisis, such as a natural disaster or disease outbreak, convenience voting such as extended early voting options, ballot drop boxes, and relaxed restrictions around absentee voting options, may reduce barriers to voting experienced during uncertain or unsafe conditions and facilitate institutional certainty.