Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Three ways to change voting (or nonvoting) behavior

Opinion

Maryland primary voter

A voter casts a ballot in the Maryland primary election July 19.

Nathan Howard/Getty Images

Riegel is the co-founder of Motivote, a company that uses behavioral economics to help businesses, advocacy groups and candidates engage younger people and boost election turnout.

On paper, I check all the boxes for “civically engaged millennial”: I have degrees in political science and public administration. I participated in (and later, staffed) both Model UN and Youth & Government programs. I’ve asked bartenders to switch the TV to the vice presidential debate. I’ll talk incessantly about political opinions and care deeply about policy design.

And yet, until pretty recently, I had never voted in a non-presidential election.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think, in theory, it was important. But I never prioritized it.

I was living in New York but still registered in New Jersey. By the time I realized there was an election (usually on social media, the day of) it was too late to do anything.

Back in 2018, a grad school classmate and I started to explore the question of “why don’t people vote?” through a behavioral science lens.


She was a former student organizer, the person chasing you down with a clipboard on the quad. And she was frustrated by the volume of people who said they were planning to vote — and seemed to have every intention of doing so — but ultimately dropped off.

When it came time to pick a research topic for our MPA capstone project, we wanted to focus on this disconnect between intending to vote and actually doing it.

A lot of voter engagement centers on messages like, “It’s really important!” and “It’s your civic duty!” The problem is, these appeals don’t get at the very human behavioral breakdowns that prevent an estimated 50 percent of registered voters from casting their ballot.

As just one example: A 2018 report out of the New York Senate found that many New Yorkers didn’t vote in past elections for entirely preventable reasons – 28 percent had work/school obligations, 18 percent said they didn’t know the election date, and 16 percent said they forgot. Other reasons include child care obligations, not knowing the polling place, not having time or bad weather.

As humans, we default toward procrastinating on things that seem confusing, time-consuming or annoying.

Think about the micro-steps that go into voting. They include tasks like finding your driver’s license and entering the number, tracking down a printer and stamp to mail in a registration form or absentee ballot request, and carving out time to get to a polling place and wait in line. It’s no surprise that so many people put off important steps until it’s too late.

Luckily, we’re not starting from scratch. The field of behavioral science has figured out how to help people bridge “intention-action” gaps and increase follow-through. You may be familiar with these nudge strategies: Plan-making, reminders, defaults, social commitments, gamification, incentives.

If you’re looking to make the realities of human behavior a bigger focus of your voter engagement programs, here are some frameworks to guide you:

Plan-making

A lot of messaging to voters focuses on motivation — trying to convince people why it's important to vote.

But studies actually show that planning outweighs strong motivation.

Take an example from health care: In a study of people with the goal of getting healthier, one group who read motivational material about exercise — but did not plan when and where they would do it — showed no increase in exercise frequency. On the other hand, 91 percent of participants who planned their intentions (by writing down when and where they would do it each week) ended up following through.

Why can plans make such a difference? As humans, we believe in the best version of our future self. We hope we’ll “just remember” to do something, leaving it to chance. But, too often, that idealized self bumps up against a reality where we get busy and distracted.

Plan-making encourages us to think through potential obstacles and develop strategies for overcoming them.

How can we apply plan-making to voting?

Encourage voters to think through the details of how they'll vote — the more nuanced, the better.

A foundational study shows that when voters got phone calls that walked them through plan-making prompts, like when they will vote and where they will be coming from before that, increased turnout by 4.1 percent.

Prompt voters to think through their voting method (absentee, early, Election Day?), when they are planning to go, what they need to bring, whether they need to request time off from work or find child care, etc. Bonus points for adding it to their calendar!

Temptation-bundling

Temptation bundling is a strategy for habit formation where you “bundle” a source of gratification with a beneficial, but less enjoyable, activity.

For example, if you’re trying to get into a workout routine, you might only let yourself watch your favorite guilty pleasure show while on the treadmill.

How can we apply temptation-bundling to voting?

Connect an enjoyable experience to the act of voting. By pairing something you need to “get done” with something fun, you make it more likely to happen.

If your polling place is on the way to your favorite cafe, treat yourself to your favorite drink after casting your ballot.

If you’re in a vote-by-mail state, get friends together for an IRL or Zoom hangout where you fill out your ballots together.

Or, make plans to swing by an early voting center before work or class and then meet up for breakfast afterwards.

“Parties at the Polls,” which can lift turnout by 2 percent, are an example of temptation-bundling at a larger scale.

When community organizations set up food, music and activities near a polling place, they’re connecting something fun and celebratory to the behavior.

Social accountability

It’s no secret why finding an accountability buddy is such common advice when trying to hit a goal. Want to work out more? Sign up for fitness class with a friend. Keep putting off your assignment? Have a friend check in after each chapter.

Doing something with friends isn’t just more enjoyable; research shows it’s more effective.

Why? Humans love validation. When we know others are watching, we want them to think highly of us so we are more likely to engage in “prosocial” behavior. We're also less likely to back out when we know others are counting on us.

How can we apply social accountability to voting?

“Peer pressure” had a negative connotation growing up. But with voting, it comes in handy.

Start by telling friends you’re planning to vote. (This is a powerful signaling device, since people are more likely to vote when they think others are doing it.)

Even better, share your plan and ask for support: “Hey, I’m planning to vote early during my lunch break; can you check in with me this afternoon to make sure I did it?”

Level up by turning your friend group into a commitment circle. Let each other know when you’re going to cast your ballots and check up on anyone you haven’t heard from.

Organizations can facilitate social accountability with community competitions.

For example, college clubs and neighborhood squads can set goals like: 75 percent of our team will have voted by the Saturday before Election Day using absentee or early voting. Track progress, then celebrate teams that hit the goal.

Communal goals create incentives to check in on others in your group. When others are counting on you to show up, you’re less likely to put something off.

As you start to map out your messaging and engagement strategies for the 2022 midterm general elections, keep in mind that repeatedly telling someone to do something is not the best way to get them to take action. Instead, consider the behavioral barriers in their way and help them strategize to overcome. To learn more about using behavioral science to help voters decrease friction, say hi at jess@motivote.us.

Read More

This isn’t the first time moms have been blamed for their kids’ autism

There are echoes of mother-blaming in how President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are now talking about autism, pregnancy and vaccines.

(Getty Images)

This isn’t the first time moms have been blamed for their kids’ autism

JJ Hanley can still remember the pediatrician’s words.

It was the early ’90s, and the mother of two in suburban Chicago had begun to worry that her toddler-age son, Tim, was showing language delays and other behaviors that didn’t align with his older brother’s development. Hanley turned to her son’s doctor, who declared: “There’s nothing wrong with him. What’s wrong with him is you.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Fulcrum Roundtable: Political Violence

Protest, person holds sign Silene = Violence

Fulcrum Roundtable: Political Violence

Welcome to the Fulcrum Roundtable.

The program offers insights and discussions about some of the most talked-about topics from the previous month, featuring Fulcrum’s collaborators.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rebuilding Democracy After Comey’s Indictment
James Comey, former FBI Director, speaks at the Barnes & Noble Upper West Side on May 19, 2025 in New York City.
(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Rebuilding Democracy After Comey’s Indictment

Introduction – Stress Tests and Hidden Strength

The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey in September 2025 was a stark reminder of how fragile our institutions have become under Trump 2.0. An inexperienced prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, chosen more for loyalty than expertise, pushed through felony charges at the president’s urging. The move broke with the Justice Department’s tradition of independence and highlighted the risks that arise when political power bends justice toward retribution.

This is not just a story about one man. It is a warning that America’s democracy is like a bridge under heavy strain. Crises expose cracks but can also reveal hidden strength. For ordinary citizens, this means a justice system more susceptible to political pressure, a government less accountable, and daily life shaped by leaders willing to bend the rules for personal gain.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Independent Exodus
two stickers with the words i vote on them
Photo by Mockup Free on Unsplash

The Independent Exodus

Every week, thousands of Americans - who live in the 30 states that register voters by party - go to the post office, DMV, or download a voter registration form, and change their registration status from “Democrat” or “Republican” to “Independent.”

This trend is accelerating. Nationally, 43% of Americans identify as independent. In a handful of states, registered independents outnumber Democrats and Republicans combined. But the response to this trend from the politics industry has been “nothing to see here, people…the two-party system is alive and well.”

Keep ReadingShow less