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.

Election Enhancements for Ohio: A Report to the Governor and General Assembly (PDF)
The state of Ohio has long been a focus of election reformers’ attention, thanks to issues like long wait times at the polls in 2004 and a number of voter registration problems prior to last fall’s contest. After the 2008 election, the state undertook a comprehensive review of its entire election system, and a new report highlights both successes and failures and makes a range of recommendations in areas ranging from voter identification to absentee voting.

Read the report here (PDF).
Featured Resources
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.
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.
In this new book, Michael Hanmer argues that to understand how these institutional arrangements affect outcomes, it is necessary to consider the interactions between social and political context and these laws.
Ned Foley’s post on Election Law @ Moritz delves into the issue of uncounted ballots. This category includes absentee ballots either wrongly rejected or arriving late (usually from overseas) and provisional ballots that haven’t yet been evaluated.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of Sarasota County’s charter election law amendments, finding that state law does not bar individual counties from creating their own election laws.
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.
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.
FairVote develops and promotes practical strategies to improve elections at the local, state and national levels.
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.
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 American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
www.aei.org
The Brookings Institution
www.brookings.edu
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