Does Biometric registration reduce political participation?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-53575332pfprKeywords:
Election, Turn-out, EnfranchisementAbstract
Biometric registration, being an additional cost to electoral participation, might represent a constraint on voting rights; on the other hand, it may have important effects in restraining electoral fraud. We evaluate its impact on political participation by a difference in-differences regression, comparing municipalities that implemented the biometric registration early with those that joined later or never participated, and we correct for potential differential trends and staggered treatment. We find that biometric registration was successful in reducing (potentially fraudulent) voter registrations, without relevant effects on political participation of real voters.
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