Carrie Ann LeVan

Montgoris Associate Professor of Government, Colby College

Chapter Member: Maine SSN

Areas of Expertise:

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About Carrie

LeVan is an expert on voter mobilization and the participation of individuals from varying socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds. In 2019, she received the Susan Clarke Young Scholar Award for Urban Politics in recognition of her research exploring how both the physical design and racial/ethnic/class composition of one’s neighborhood impacts one’s propensity to participate in politics. She has also conducted surveys in the state of Maine to examine public opinion regarding Maine’s first-in-the-nation rollout of Rank Choice Voting.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | Member Spotlight | 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 Robert W. Glover and Jordan P. LaBouff), Columnists, 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 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 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.