Parties and candidates go to considerable length to secure first posit
ion on the ballot because they believe this position yields important
electoral advantage. This note challenges that belief on two grounds.
It first shows that countries in which first position provides an adva
ntage have very different election rules that create the advantages. I
t then examines the results of the 1972, 1982, and 1994 elections to t
he New Hampshire House of Representatives, where most members are elec
ted from multimember districts. These show that under the sorts of ele
ction rules used in the United States, no particular advantage accrues
to the first-listed candidate.