AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project

Thank you for following the work of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project. We’ll continue looking at the issues of election reform at AEI and Brookings. For new work on congressional redistricting, please visit www.redistrictingproject.org.

Auditing a State’s Laws for Resolving Election Contests

State laws on how to handle a dispute over the outcome of an election vary widely. The rules and procedures are often ambiguous, making resolution even more difficult. In a new essay, Edward Foley argues for the use of periodic “Election Law Contest Audits” as a way to alleviate this problem and improve the administration of elections.

Read the analysis here.

Viewpoint: How Do You Measure Election Reform? | APRIL 2009

Jessica Leval, AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project

In this piece, the Election Reform Project's Jessica Leval reviews Heather Gerken's book, The Democracy Index, which details a proposal for creating a ranking system for state and local governments based on the performance of their elections.

Statistical Analysis of the Post Election Audit Data | NOVEMBER 2009

Voting Technology Research Center

Post-election audits determine whether discrepancies between hand and machine ballot counts exist. Analysis of the 2008 election results in Connecticut find discrepancies in the vote counts caused by hand counting errors or vote misallocation, not as a result of machine tabulations.

Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections v. Browning | FEBRUARY 2010

Supreme Court of Florida

The Florida Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of Sarasota County’s charter election law amendments, finding that state law does not bar individual counties from creating their own election laws.

2008 Election Data Collection Grant Program Evaluation Report (PDF) | JUNE 2009

U.S. Election Assistance Commission

This report provides the results from an evaluation of five projects to improve election data collection in 2008. Overall, the grantees increased their level of core data collection, improving to 80 percent of the core data from less than half in 2006.

Viewpoint: If My Election Isn't Broken, Don't Fix It: The Limits of Voter Confidence Measures and Public Opinion on Election Reform | JULY 1, 2009

Molly Reynolds, AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project

In this analysis, the Election Reform Project’s Molly Reynolds looks at what responses from a 2008 survey can tell us about what the public prefers in terms of election reform proposals—and the limits of relying on such data in this particular area.

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FairVote

FairVote develops and promotes practical strategies to improve elections at the local, state and national levels.

Project Vote

Project Vote is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) that works to empower, educate, and mobilize low-income, minority, youth, and other marginalized and under-represented voters.

electionline.org

The Pew Center on the States

electionline.org provides daily news updates on election reform issues, as well as deeper analysis of selected topics, including recent reports on voter registration, recount procedures, and the progress in implementing the Help America Vote Act since 2002.

Election Administration Research Center (EARC)

University of California, Berkeley

Part of the Institute for Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, the Election Administration Research Center (EARC) aims to improve the administration of elections.

Center for American Politics and Citizenship

University of Maryland

As part of its broader research focus on elections, campaign ethics, campaign finance, and the legislative process, the Center for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland is engaged in research projects on voting technology and ballot design specifically.

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»	Election Administration

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
www.aei.org

The Brookings Institution
www.brookings.edu