POSITION EFFECTS IN MULTIMEMBER DISTRICTS - THE NEW-HAMPSHIRE HOUSE-OF-REPRESENTATIVES, 1972-1994

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.