Michael J. Hanmer is an assistant professor in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, where he specializes in American Politics, with a focus on voting behavior, public opinion, electoral reform, and political methodology. His recent work includes an interdisciplinary study of the usability of voting technologies and ballot designs, co-designing and implementing a November 2004 post-election survey to assess the behaviors and attitudes of a national sample of college students, designing a survey based experiment to reduce vote over-reporting, and co-designing a survey and survey based experiment on reactions to new voting procedures on a national sample of citizens. His next project will examine how mobilization and participation lead to changes in the ways individuals think about politics.