Deus Ex Machina: The Influence of Polling Place on Voting Behavior Abraham M. Rutchick California State University, Northridge Voting is perceived as free and rational. Citizens make whatever choices they wish, shielded from external influences by the privacy of the voting booth. The current paper, however, suggests that a subtle source of influence—polling places themselves—can impact voting behavior. In two elections, people voting in churches were more likely to support a conser- vative candidate and a ban on same-sex marriage, but not the restriction of eminent domain. A field experiment found that people completing questionnaires in a chapel awarded less money (relative to people in a secular building) to insurance claimants seeking compensation for abortion pills, but not to worker’s compensation claimants. A laboratory experiment found that people subliminally exposed to ecclesiastical images awarded less money (relative to people exposed to control images) to abortion pill claim- ants, but not to worker’s compensation claimants. Exposure to ecclesiastical images affected only Christians; non-Christians’ awards were unaffected by the prime. These findings show that polling locations can exert a powerful and precise influence on political attitudes and decision making. KEY WORDS: Voting, Elections, Polling place, Priming, Churches The act of voting seems like the utmost expression of free and rational behavior. People are free to make any choice they wish for any reason, shielded from coercive influences by the privacy and anonymity of the voting booth. Indeed, election laws are designed to ensure that voting occurs in an environment free from external pressures. For example, campaign signs are typically banned near polling places (e.g., Wis. Act, 2005); in 2004, when an initiative on taxpayer funding of a new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys was on the ballot in Arlington, TX, voters were prohibited from wearing Cowboys paraphernalia or required to cover it with a paper smock (Stewart, 2004). In this paper, I argue that, despite these efforts to protect voters from external influences, the places in which people vote can serve as primes that influence their attitudes and behavior. Specifically, I Political Psychology, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2010 doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9221.2009.00749.x 209 0162-895X © 2010 International Society of Political Psychology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, and PO Box 378 Carlton South, 3053 Victoria Australia