The relationship between voting restrictions and COVID-19 case and mortality rates between US counties.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Since the 2010 election, the number of laws in the U.S. that create barriers to voting has increased dramatically. These laws may have spillover effects on population health by creating a disconnect between voter preferences and political representation, thereby limiting protective public health policies and funding. We examine whether voting restrictions are associated with county-level COVID-19 case and mortality rates.

Methods

To obtain information on restricted access to voting, we used the Cost of Voting Index (COVI), a state-level measure of barriers to voting during a U.S. election from 1996 to 2016. COVID-19 case and mortality rates were obtained from the New York Times' GitHub database (a compilation from multiple academic sources). Multilevel modeling wa

SUBMITTER: Pabayo R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9159582 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature