Carrie Ann LeVan

Assistant Professor of Government, Colby College

Chapter Member: Maine SSN

Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Carrie

About Carrie

LeVan’s research focuses on mobilization and social networks and their role in affecting the participation of individuals from varying socioeconomic backgrounds. Current projects include investigating the influence of personal relationships on the turnout rates of low status voters; and exploring the effect of having politically engaged neighbors on one’s propensity to vote.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Contacting Disadvantaged Citizens Turns Them into Voters

Key Findings Brief, November 2011

In the News

Opinion: "Scholars Strategy Network: Need Reassurances About Election Integrity? Serve as a Poll Worker!," Carrie Ann LeVan (with Rob W. Glover and Jordan P. LaBouff), Central Maine News, April 18, 2023.

Publications

"Mobilizing Low Propensity Latino Voters: Evidence from a Field Experiment" Quarterly Journal of Political Science (forthcoming).

Finds, using a randomized field experiment, that individual low propensity and low socioeconomic status voters who are personally contacted and encouraged to vote participate at significantly higher rates than those who are not. Moreover, finds that these effects are higher for Latino, low status, low propensity voters than non-Latinos.

"Neighborhoods that Matter: How Place and People Affect Political Participation" American Politics Research (forthcoming).

Argues that features of neighborhood design that promote social interaction also promote political participation

"Mobilizing the Poor: Spillover Effects of an Experimental Intervention to Increase Turnout," 2012 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, March 31, 2012.

Uses experimental data to show that GOTV messages targeted at poor, registered voters have a spillover effect on their neighbors. Finds that neighbors of randomly contacted voters were more likely to vote than neighbors of non-contacted voters.

"The Vicious Cycle: The Exclusion of Low Socioeconomic Status Voters from Mobilization Efforts," Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Seattle, WA, August 31, 2011.

Explores the effects of a non-partisan “Get-Out-the-Vote” personal canvassing campaign on individual, poor and uneducated, low propensity voters. Uses a randomized field experiment and finds that individual, low propensity and low socioeconomic status voters who are personally contacted and encouraged to vote participate at significantly higher rates than those who are not.