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Improving Elections: Is an Index the Answer?
APRIL 2009
Improving Elections: Is an Index the Answer?
Nearly a decade after the 2000 election highlighted the myriad problems with the U.S. election system, reformers still struggle to gain traction for systemic change. On April 7, the Election Reform Project hosted a discussion exploring a new book by Heather Gerken of Yale Law School that advocates bringing sustained attention to the need for reform through a “Democracy Index” that ranks state and local governments on the performance of their election systems.
Featured Resources
This article explores the ways that various states distribute authority for the purchase of new voting technology, and argues that the procurement process can be improved through cooperation and shared responsibility.
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.
This supplemental report provides in-depth information on each state's election system.
In response to a request by the Election Commission, the Hawaii Office of Elections produced this report outlining the plan for the 2010 elections. A focus of this report is the effect of the reduced budget for the office on staffing and the number of precincts which will be open for the elections.
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.
Research Projects
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.
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.
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 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.
FairVote develops and promotes practical strategies to improve elections at the local, state and national levels.
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