Pivotal voting: The opportunity to tip group decisions skews juries and other voting outcomes.

ABSTRACT: Many important social and policy decisions are made by small groups of people (e.g., juries, college admissions officers, or corporate boards) with the hope that a collective process will yield better and fairer decisions. In many instances, it is possible for these groups to fail to reach a decision by not garnering a minimum number of votes (e.g., hung juries). Our research finds that pivotal voters vote to avoid such decision failure-voters who can "tip" their group into a punishment decision will be more likely to do so. This effect is distinct from well-known social pressures to simply conform with others or reach unanimity. Using observational data from Louisiana court cases, we find a sharp discontinuity in juries' voting decisions at the threshold between indecision and conviction

SUBMITTER: Davenport D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9371710 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature