One of the biases introduced into the election process can come through the design and layout of the ballot. There’s a presumption that a candidate can gain an “extra” benefit from being in a “favorable” position on a ballot — either near the top, or adjacent to a popular candidate in another race.
Some states address this bias by various methods of randomization or pseudorandomization (especially with the advent of touch-screen electronic voting).
That is not the case in Connecticut, where the Governor’s party is always first, “the other” major party is second, minor parties follow, and independent “petitioning candidates” bring up the rear.
Nutmeggers will be getting a reminder of this as word spreads about the ballot order in this year’s Senate race in Connecticut. Connecticut Local Politics quotes a CT Secretary of the State notice:
There are a total of five candidates running for United States Senator this year in Connecticut: Alan Schlesinger of the Republican Party, Ned Lamont Democratic Party, Timothy Knibbs of the Concerned Citizens Party, Ralph Ferrucci of the Green Party, and Joseph Lieberman of the Connecticut For Lieberman Party. The sequence in which they will appear in Column 2 on the November 7th ballot is as follows:
* Alan Schlesinger
* Ned Lamont
* Timothy Knibbs
* Ralph Ferrucci
* Joe Lieberman
There’s a caveat that in any single-town district where a Libertarian, Working Families Party, or Independent Party candidate is running for state representative, Lieberman’s line would be shifted down further on the ballot.