Increasing voter knowledge in low-information elections is paramount to democratic accountability. Endorsements serve as a source of information about candidates for voters. Though candidates in state supreme court races are constrained by many traditional methods of electioneering, endorsements of judicial candidates remain relatively unconstrained. Using an original dataset of campaign advertisements from 2000-2018, we coded for a variety of public endorsements that were included in television ads of candidates for state courts of last resort (SCOLR). We find support that group endorsements have an electoral impact in these races, while other types of endorsements do not appear to have any discernable effect. We further find that group endorsements help challengers but hurt incumbents. Our findings suggest that endorsements from various advocacy groups can impact outcomes for low-information election types where voters typically have little to no prior understanding of a judicial candidate’s legal or policy positions, but their effectiveness is dependent on incumbency status of the candidates.

Background/Objectives: Public health activities and the roll-out of new vaccines such as the HPV vaccine in Mali have been disrupted by both the COVID-19 pandemic and by political unrest from March 2020 until recently. The HPV vaccine was introduced into the childhood vaccine program in 2024. Given the persistent threat of ongoing infectious disease epidemics, there is a pressing need to understand the factors influencing vaccine uptake in Mali and other low- and middle-income countries. Methods: To address this need, the GAIA Vaccine Foundation (GAIA VF), a nongovernmental organization (NGO), conducted a study of vaccine confidence in Bamako, the country’s capital and primary population center, between September 2021 and March 2022 at 12 community based primary care clinics and 1 rural primary care clinic. The study was coupled with a vaccine outreach and education campaign at each site. Results: Study staff collected information on vaccine confidence in surveys from 3445 community participants. Healthcare providers were also recruited from the 13 sites for vaccine-related training, and 140 of these participants completed pre- and post-surveys on their vaccine knowledge and confidence. Survey results indicate that community members trust their primary care providers more than they trust the government. However, primary care providers trust government sources of information more than other sources for guidance on vaccines. Conclusions: As new vaccines are introduced, engaging key healthcare leaders to inform healthcare providers and developing primary care provider-led community outreach will be critically important to gaining community confidence prior to and during vaccination campaigns in the future.

Cervical cancer (CC) is the second most common cancer in Western Africa, accounting for 12,000 cases and 6000 deaths annually. While vaccination against human papilloma virus (HPV) and CC screenings reduce the incidence and mortality of CC in many developed countries, 90% of CC deaths are in low-income countries. Lack of knowledge about the connection between HPV and CC, lack of access to vaccines and screenings, weak healthcare infrastructure, and stigma related to sexually transmitted diseases are among the factors that contribute to this disparity. Previously, we evaluated the knowledge of HPV and CC in Bamako, Mali, showing that knowledge of the link between HPV and CC was very low (less than 8% of participants) and that less than 3% of women were screened for CC. Subsequent implementation of a community-based education program and support for local clinics resulted in a five-fold increase in CC screening at the five participating clinics in 2015. In this study, we paired CC screenings of mothers with HPV vaccination of their daughters to target out-of-school (OOS) girls whom school-based vaccination campaigns would not reach. Our campaign resulted in a 10.7% increase in HPV vaccination.

Objective: In low‐information elections, any amount of information can be decisive in voter behavior, including the choice of whether to make a choice in each race. In judicial elections, often low‐information affairs, rhetoric about criminal justice typically attracts the most attention of potential voters. Given the nature of these judicial races, voter knowledge on candidates relies on a variety of state‐ and race‐level contextual factors, including issues of law and order, a key feature of judicial races as highlighted in campaign advertising. We examine the impact of crime rhetoric in judicial campaign ads, front‐page news coverage of criminal cases, and public policy mood on ballot roll‐off. Argument: This paper argues that the ubiquity of crime‐related references in judicial advertising leads to the electorate having more information to use at the ballot box. In addition, it also argues that front‐page news coverage of criminal cases also mobilizes voter participation in judicial elections. These increased information avenues lead to higher levels of voter participation in judicial races. Furthermore, conservative constituencies are primed to respond more strongly to crime advertising. Methods: The unit of analysis of the dataset in our study is on the ad‐candidate level. As the dependent variable for average ballot roll‐off in an election and ballot roll‐off per race are continuous and our dataset is hierarchical in nature, we estimated our analyses using linear mixed‐effects models with state and year random effects. The time frame of our study is 2000 to 2018. We examine three main independent variables: crime rhetoric in judicial campaign ads, front‐page news coverage of criminal cases, and public policy mood. Results: We find that while crime messaging in judicial campaign ads do little to mobilize voters, front‐page news coverage of criminal cases and states that have more liberal (i.e., prefer more government engagement in policy areas)‐not conservative‐public policy moods motivate voter participation in judicial elections. As judicial campaigns pour significant resources to air ads centering on crime and punishment to mobilize voters, our findings suggest crime messaging does not shape voter participation in these races as much as other state‐level contextual factors.

In the United States, the vast majority of chief prosecutors are elected, and existing literature demonstrates that electoral pressure impacts the decisions that candidates make (e.g., Brace & Hall, 1997; Cox & McCubbins, 1993; Mayhew, 1974). Prosecutorial discretion puts prosecutors in a unique position to shape outcomes in our criminal justice system. This paper explores how electoral pressure impacts prosecutorial decision-making. This analysis utilizes a novel dataset of chief prosecutor elections in Florida from 2008–2016 to test the impact of electoral pressure on three dependent variables: the proportion of cases not prosecuted, the proportion of cases convicted by jury trial, and the proportion of cases disposed by plea agreements. The models demonstrate no relationship between electoral pressure and case declination decisions. The results hold across several operationalizations of electoral pressure. However, individual prosecutor characteristics, such as sex and ideology, shape the decision to prosecute. Electoral pressure also has no effect on plea bargaining. However, during the time span of the data, jury trials decrease during election years.