Floods and electoral participation in Peru

Flooding is of increasing concern to electoral administrators the world over, as climate change is bringing more intense floods, and pre-electoral inundations may disrupt voting processes. This paper focuses on measures taken by Peruvian electoral authorities to mitigate the negative impacts of flooding. Focusing on the 2021 general elections, the analysis employs difference-in-differences regression to estimate the causal impact of flooding on turnout. The analysis finds that the period of intensive rain that preceded this electoral event depressed turnout levels in the places where floods occurred, but that <br/>these effects were minimal, given that electoral administrators had put in place a range of innovative techniques to protect elections from natural hazards. These findings indicate that the Peruvian approach to vote facilitation is a useful example for electoral authorities elsewhere. Climatic risks nevertheless pose <br/>challenges that can be addressed by additional protective measures, especially in relation to displaced voters.