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The Effects of Election Day Vote Centers on Voter Experiences (PDF)
Most Americans vote by visiting a small precinct place close to their home, but some voters in places like Colorado, Texas, and Indiana are now casting ballots at vote centers—large polling sites situated near population centers. A new study explores voters’ opinions of this type of polling place, finding that voters rate them better than traditional polling places and that poll workers are especially important under this alternative model.

Read the report here (PDF).
Featured Resources
In this piece, the Election Reform Project's Jessica Leval reviews Heather Gerken's book, The Democracy Index, which details a proposal for creating a ranking system for state and local governments based on the performance of their elections.
Although states are continuing to pass laws and reach decisions to comply with the mandates of HAVA and related laws, Daniel Tokaji argues that the United States still lacks a well-functioning independent electoral management body.
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.
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.
A pilot study examined the effectiveness of combining in-person training with on-line educational tools. Those who participated in on-line training performed better, were more confident in their work, and knew the specifics of their job better than those who had not participated in on-line training.
Research Projects
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.
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.
FairVote develops and promotes practical strategies to improve elections at the local, state and national levels.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
www.aei.org
The Brookings Institution
www.brookings.edu
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