Do online vote selectors influence electoral participation and the directionof the vote

The rise of the internet has provided voters with a new tool to make their choice: online vote selectors. These tests typically ask voters to express their views on a range of policy issues and then indicate which party or candidate gives the best match. In this paper we examine the impact of vote selectors on electoral participation and the direction of the vote. We focus on the 2006 parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, where almost forty per cent of the voters took such a test. Awareness and usage of vote selectors was highest among the youngest age cohort and among voters with high levels of education. The analyses suggest that vote selectors had a modest effect on electoral participation and a substantial effect on party choice, especially among undecided voters.