I study the effects of voting costs—specifically, distance to polling location—using geographic discontinuities. Opposite sides of boundaries between voting precincts are observationally identical, except for their assigned polling locations. This discontinuous assignment produces sharp changes in voters' travel distance to cast their ballots. In nine municipalities in Massachusetts and Minnesota, a 1 standard deviation (0.245 mile) increase in distance reduces ballots cast by 2 to 5 percent across four elections. During non-presidential elections, effects are three times larger in high-minority areas than in low-minority areas. Finally, I simulate the impact of various counterfactual assignments of voters to polling places.

中文翻译：

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选区太远：投票率和投票成本

我使用地理不连续性研究了投票成本的影响——特别是到投票地点的距离。除了指定的投票地点外，投票区之间边界的两侧在观察上是相同的。这种不连续的分配使选民投票的旅行距离发生了急剧变化。在马萨诸塞州和明尼苏达州的九个城市，距离每增加 1 个标准差（0.245 英里），四次选举中的选票就会减少 2% 到 5%。在非总统选举期间，高少数民族地区的影响是低少数民族地区的三倍。最后，我模拟了选民对投票站的各种反事实分配的影响。