A Field Experiment Encouraging People on Probation or Parole to Register and Vote in New Jersey

Last registered on October 18, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
A Field Experiment Encouraging People on Probation or Parole to Register and Vote in New Jersey
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008382
Initial registration date
October 15, 2021

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 18, 2021, 10:28 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
New Jersey

Primary Investigator

Name
Ariel White
Affiliation
MIT
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Hannah Walker
PI Affiliation
UT-Austin
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Melissa Michelson
PI Affiliation
Menlo College
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2021-09-02
End date
2022-04-01
Keywords
Electoral
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We are running a randomized experiment to test the effectiveness of an intervention that will contact people who are on parole or probation (or have recently completed supervision) and encourage them to register and vote.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Michelson, Melissa, Hannah Walker and Ariel White. 2021. "A Field Experiment Encouraging People on Probation or Parole to Register and Vote in New Jersey." AEA RCT Registry. October 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8382-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Some people will be mailed letters with information about registration and a voter registration form.
Intervention Start Date
2021-09-02
Intervention End Date
2021-11-02

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Voter registration (as of election day 2021) and voter turnout in the November 2021 New Jersey general election, both collected from the state's voter file.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
People are randomly assigned to either be sent no mail, or one of two letter variations.
Experimental Design Details
See the attached document for more details about sample construction. Treatment assignment was conducted via blocked random assignment, with blocks constructed based on age, gender, race, data source, match status to the voter file, and voter
registration status. Treatment probabilities are the same across all blocks. There are a small
number of people on our list who live at the same address as someone else on the list. We
constrain households to fall into the same treatment group so different people at the same
address do not receive different mailers. Our analyses, as discussed below, will take into ac-
count this clustering of treatment assignment.
Randomization Method
randomization by computer (R)
Randomization Unit
individual, with households constrained to receive the same treatment in the small number of cases where multiple individuals in the sample lived at the same address (our analysis accounts for this clustering).
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
23,108
Sample size: planned number of observations
23,768
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
8838 individuals assigned to control, 7476 to information-only mail, 7454 to research-informed mail
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
MIT COUHES
IRB Approval Date
2021-04-23
IRB Approval Number
2104000350
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials