Is This the Most Unexpected Voter Turnout Strategy Ever?

Is This the Most Unexpected Voter Turnout Strategy Ever?

Author: University of Chicago Podcast Network May 8, 2025 Duration: 41:09
What if one of the most powerful tools to boost voter turnout isn’t a flashy campaign or a new voting law—but being randomly forced to work the polls? In this episode, we explore a surprising study of women in 1930s Spain who were randomly assigned to serve as poll workers—just after they gained the right to vote. The results? A massive, 30-point increase in future voting behavior. Is this just a historical curiosity—or a window into how habit, exposure, and civic experience shape democracy? We speak with researcher Toni Rodon about his paper Working for Democracy: Poll Officers and the Turnout Gender Gap, and unpack what this unexpected experiment teaches us about gender, political culture, and the power of participation.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the constant churn of political news, where hot takes often replace deeper understanding. Not Another Politics Podcast cuts through that noise by grounding current events in the tools of political science. Hosted by Harris School of Public Policy professors William Howell, Anthony Fowler, and Wioletta Dziuda, this conversation from the University of Chicago Podcast Network moves past opinion and anecdote. Instead, each episode applies rigorous scholarship, analysis of large data sets, and foundational theory to the day’s biggest stories. What you’ll hear is a thoughtful examination of the mechanisms, institutions, and voter behaviors that actually drive outcomes, offering clarity where there is typically confusion. This isn’t a reactionary debate show; it’s a space where academic insight meets practical politics, giving you a more durable framework for understanding power, policy, and elections. Tune in for a genuinely fresh perspective that prioritizes evidence over echo chambers, making this podcast a resource for anyone who wants to move beyond the headlines and understand the why behind the news.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Not Another Politics Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Does Social Media Polarize Our Politics? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:01
It’s one of the most common refrains in political discourse today: social media is the source of polarization. It’s a difficult proposition to empirically study because companies like Meta and X don’t share their data pu…
Is Partisan Gerrymandering As Bad As You Think? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:42
There is no political topic that can get people’s blood boiling quite like partisan gerrymandering. Many even go so far as to call it an afront to our democracy. But what do we know about how effective it is and what the…
Does Ousting Incumbents Improve The Economy? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:54
The assumption in political science has always been that electing challengers can lead to a downturn in performance. It takes time to do all the hiring involved in establishing a new government, and there is always a lea…
Do Partisans Really Believe Different Facts? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:19
The common refrain in political coverage today says that each side of the aisle is living in an information bubble. There is a partisan knowledge gap between the facts Democrats know and the facts Republicans know. May b…
Is Voter Rationality A Test Of A Health Democracy? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:07
There’s a long tradition in political science of using voter rationality to test the health of our democracy. But could this myopia be misguided? Are there any situations where irrational and uninformed voters could actu…
When Fox Viewers Watch CNN Instead [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:48
Partisan misinformation. Many people think it comes from the news people watch. When it comes to cable news, Fox and CNN have pretty partisan viewers. So, what would happen if Fox viewers tuned into CNN for a month? Woul…
Do White Americans Favor White Politicians? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:55
As the Supreme Court debates whether to end affirmative action, concerns about the power of implicit racial bias to shape who gets ahead in America are as salient as ever. But what do we know about the extent and power o…
Do Stimulus Checks Buy Votes? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:50
We’ve become deeply familiar with stimulus checks in the last few years, but what isn’t clear is what affect these transfers may have on elections. Could stimulus checks be enough for citizens to change their votes to th…
Can You Judge A Politician By Their Looks? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:20
We all know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but if we’re being honest we all do it on occasion anyway. Could it be that we also elect our politicians just based on how they look? Of course, there’s the…
Can Citizen Appeals Change Government Action? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:51
When citizens directly appeal to their government, are their concerns ignored or taken seriously? It’s an important question for understanding norms around accountability, especially in authoritarian regimes. To find som…