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.

The State of Elections In The Fifty States: Evaluating the Process Where It Counts (PDF)
This report reviews the election process across all fifty states, using the Carter-Baker Commission’s recommendations as guidelines. It reviews progress on voter registration, voter identification and provisional voting, voting technology, voter access and education, and election management.

Read the report here.
Featured Resources
This paper explores whether voters who used specific types of machines in the 2008 election encountered more problems than other voters, and whether voter confidence varied by the type of system used.
The NVRA was meant to increase registration levels across the country and as a result, increase participation in elections. Despite the fifteenth anniversary of NVRA in 2008, registration problems remain an issue, as Estelle Rogers, a Consulting Attorney with Project Vote finds.
This report finds that the increase in the no-valid-vote rate in the 2008 presidential race in Florida was due to excessive overvoting statewide, not to the change in voting technologies.
Rather than submit a provisional ballot, some unregistered voters are able to both register and vote on Election Day. Same Day Registration has been enacted in nine states and the District of Columbia. This memo explores this policy’s effect on turnout.
Under the Voting Rights Act, any state-level change to voter registration rules must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. Georgia’s proposed VoteSafe program, designed to keep private the addresses of victims of domestic violence, was approved by the Department of Justice.
Research Projects
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.
Dēmos is a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization founded in 2000. A multi-issue national organization, Dēmoscombines research, policy development, and advocacy to influence public debates and catalyze change.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on fundamental issues of democracy and justice.
Center for Democracy & Election Management was established at the School of Public Affairs at American University in 2002. Their broader goal is to pave the way for and strengthen democracy through improved electoral performance.
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.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
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The Brookings Institution
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