AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project

Make Voting Work: Request for Proposals--
New Diagnostics and New Solutions

In partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Make Voting Work initiative and the JEHT Foundation, the Pew Center on the States has issued a Request for Proposals. The first in a series, this RFP will allocate up to $2 million and will focus on diagnosing how well U.S. elections are run and planning pilot projects testing solutions to be conducted in 2007 and 2008.

» For general information on the RFP, go here.
» To read the RFP, go here (PDF).
» For frequently asked questions about the RFP, go here (PDF).

Getting It Straight for 2008: What We Know About Vote By Mail Elections and How to Conduct Them Well (PDF) | JANUARY 2008

Common Cause

Voting by mail is being considered by increasing numbers of states, and this report summarizes its advantages and downfalls and lays out a set of potential best practices.

Malfunction and Malfeasance: A Report on the Electronic Voting Machine Debacle (PDF) | JUNE 2006

Common Cause

This report surveys four major studies on the reliability and vulnerability of direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines.

Measuring the Improvement (or Lack of Improvement) in Voting Since 2000 in the U.S. (PDF) | JANUARY 2006

Charles Stewart III, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This paper summarizes what the existing evidence about the performance of the voting process in 2004 and proposes a comprehensive system of performance measures that would allow citizens and officials to assess the quality of the voting system in future elections.

DRE Analysis for the May 2006 Primary (PDF) | JULY 2006

Election Science Institute

This report outlines the results of a study carried out by a multi-disciplinary team of experts during the Cuyahoga County Primary Election of May 2006 that examined both new electronic voting technology and the administrative procedures associated with it.

Who Should Run Our Elections? Public Opinion About Election Governance in the United States: Working Paper (PDF) | FEBRUARY 2006

R. Michael Alvarez (Caltech), Thad E. Hall (University of Utah), and Morgan Llewellyn (Caltech), Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project

Alvarez, Hall, and Llewellyn's survey examines public preferences for election administration-whether elections should be run by partisan or nonpartisan officials, whether the officials should be elected or appointed, and whether elections should be administered by a single individual or commission.

More Resources »

Election Law @ Moritz

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.

Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project

This project aims to evaluate the current state of reliability and uniformity of U.S. voting systems; to establish uniform attributes and quantitative guidelines for performance and reliability of voting systems; and to propose specific uniform guidelines and requirements for reliable voting systems

Electionline.org

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.

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.

More Research Projects »

Voter Registration

Voter Access

Early and Absentee Voting

Provisional Balloting

Technology Issues

Election Administration

Voting Integrity

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

The Brookings Institution
www.brookings.edu

Election Reform Newsletter