Partisan Campaigns, Ballots, and Voting Patterns

Abstract

This article uses the unique election history of Charlotte, North Carolina, to study the effects of ballot and campaign types. Charlotte had a nonpartisan campaign and ballot in 1971, a partisan campaign with a nonpartisan ballot in 1973, and a partisan campaign and ballot in 1975. The voting pattern by precinct in these three municipal elections shows that a partisan voting pattern failed to occur in the absence of a partisan ballot, even when the campaign was vigorously partisan. Racial voting patterns were muted when the partisan ballot was introduced, but not in the partisan campaign without a partisan ballot.