Election Reform Newsletter, Issue #46
Election Reform Newsletter
AEI | The Brookings Institution.
February 20, 2008
Election Reform Newsletter.
On Topic.New Resources.Events. Forward to a Colleague.
On Topic: Election Administration
The policies that govern the conduct of elections may be made largely at the state and national levels, but they are primarily implemented by local election officials. A new study by the Congressional Research Service examines the demographics and attitudes of these administrators, while electionline.org delivers a report on the Washington, DC primary from the perspective of a poll worker.
Read more »
»  REPORT: "Election Reform and Local Election Officials: Results of Two National Surveys" (PDF), Eric A. Fischer and Kevin J. Coleman, Congressional Research Service (February 2008)
»  REPORT: "A Ballot-Less Nightmare in the District" (PDF), Dan Seligson, electionline.org (February 2008)
 
 
 
 
Fifteen months and three rounds of testing later, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has issued its final report on the high undervote rate in the 2006 election in Florida’s 13th Congressional District.  After a thorough examination of the machines’ software, the investigators were unable to uncover evidence of tampering, hacking, or a glitch that could have caused the abnormal number of undervotes in that election.
Read more »
 
 
 
The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) has provided millions of Americans with increased opportunities to register to vote since its enactment in 1993, but researchers from Project Vote and Demos conclude that significant improvements can still be made in the law’s implementation. Following up on a series of state-by-state case studies, this new report highlights the need to improve reporting requirements and enforcement.
Read more »
 

New Resources
TECHNOLOGY ISSUES
Ballot Formats, Touchscreens, and Undervotes: A Study of the 2006 Midterm Elections in Florida (PDF)
Laurin Frisina, Michael C. Herron, James Honaker, and Jeffrey B. Lewis
Election Law Journal (February 2008)
Statistical Analysis of the Post Election Audit Data, 2007 November Elections (PDF)
Voting Technology Research Center
University of Connecticut (January 2008)
VOTER REGISTRATION
Investigating Voting Rights in Colorado: An Assessment of Compliance with the National Voter Registration Act in Public Assistance Agencies (PDF)
Jody Herman and Douglas R. Hess
Project Vote (January 2008)
ELECTION ADMINISTRATION
Older Voters: Opportunities and Challenges in the 2008 Elections
U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging (January 2008)
Administering the March 4 Primary in Ohio
Edward B. Foley
Election Law @ Moritz (February 2008)
MORE ON ELECTION REFORM
 
Events
Voting System Manufacturer Roundtable Discussion
U.S. Election Assistance Commission
February 29, 2008
Washington, DC
 
 
About The Election
Reform Project
The AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project aims to synthesize election-related research, link the research and policy communities, track and assist the implemen-
tation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and encourage improvements in HAVA and in election conduct and administration.
 
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Featured Resources
A two-day workshop sought to decide upon a common data format for voting systems. Setting the requirements for a common data format will encourage transparency, interoperability, integration, and eventually assist in the transition to an electronic system of recordkeeping.
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.
Focusing on the four major provisions of the National Voter Registration Act, Project Vote’s report reviews implementation of voter registration programs at the state level.
Although ethnic diversity of the U.S. has been increasing, voter registrations have not followed this trend. A new report finds that although the voting population is still unrepresentative of the American population at large, the 2008 voting population was more diverse than in years past.
Research Projects
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.
FairVote develops and promotes practical strategies to improve elections at the local, state and national levels.
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.
Election Law @ Moritz, run through Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University, contains both explanation and commentary on a wealth of election reform issues from a legal perspective.
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.
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