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.

Voting by Mail in Los Angeles (PDF)
Responding to a request regarding the feasibility of adopting a vote-by-mail system in Los Angeles, the City Clerk wrote this memo. In it she discusses the potential impact of this change on voter turnout and the cost of implementing such a program.

Read the memo here.
Featured Resources
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision regarding the state of Washington’s law prohibiting the right to vote for felons. The court’s decision, that the law violated civil rights protections, conflicts with three other federal appeals court decisions.
We reflect on the state of election administration in the United States almost a decade after the 2000 presidential election and suggest how additional changes in technology, election law and administrative practices might further strengthen American elections in the years ahead.
This report explores an effort undertaken by Vermont during the 2008 election aimed at serving the state’s elderly population by sending trained workers to residential care facilities; it outlines the various benefits of such an approach.
The implementation of convenience voting practices like vote-by-mail and early voting raises questions concerning the effect of these changes on turnout. Research based on turnout in California studies the effect of the increasing number of vote-by-mail voters in presidential elections.
The security risks inherent in internet-based voting today pose significant barriers to the adoption of this method in nationwide elections. The author suggests changes to both internet security and the allocation of election tasks to improve the applicability of the internet in elections.
Research Projects
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
www.aei.org
The Brookings Institution
www.brookings.edu
© Copyright 2012, AEI
and The Brookings Institution