As law professor Edward B. Foley reveals, the controversy over the Mexican presidential election highlights a number of issues that also require attention north of the border. Researchers have already begun this process, producing reports on whether Americans believe their votes are being counted as well as on recount procedures.

Paper trails may be the hottest election reform topic thus far in the 110th Congress, but Senator Barack Obama recently introduced legislation aimed a tackling a different issue: election administration. Building on an idea developed by Heather Gerken at Yale Law School, the bill would create a ‘Democracy Index’ to measure the quality of states’ administration practices.

While paper trails may have been the election administration issue getting the most attention this summer, researchers continued to examine other equally important components of the process, including post-election audits and the experiences of poll workers and voters on Election Day.

As local officials in early primary states are focused on their specific micro-level preparations, two new reports take a macro-level look at administration practices. One, by researchers at Ohio State, takes a detailed look at five Midwestern states, while the other, from electionline.org, focuses on the various provisions of HAVA.

While research highlighting widespread problems in election administration often proves useful to policymakers and local officials, concrete suggestions on areas for improvement can be even more valuable. In a new piece, MIT’s Ted Selker lays out eight steps to improve the conduct of November’s election, while a new report recommends better management practices for the EAC.

When Americans go to the polls on Election Day, nearly two million poll workers greet them, representing one of the most important components for making sure an election runs smoothly. A report from the University of Utah explores how the quality of these poll workers can affect voter satisfaction, while a new analysis from the Election Reform Project looks at young people as a potential source of new volunteers on Election Day.