Voting in the 2020 Italian constitutional referendum led to more COVID-19 cases in Italy

In September 2020, during the height of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, Italians voted on a constitutional amendment to reduce the number of parliamentary members. Furthermore, in seven of the 20 Italian regions, citizens also voted to elect regional governments and regional assembly representatives; finally, in 955 of the 7,903 Italian municipalities, citizens were asked to select a new mayor. This increased level of election activity resulted in a 22 percent rise in voter turnout in municipalities that voted for both referendum and local elections, compared to municipalities voting only for the referendum.

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