Resources

This paper examines factors contributing to wait times during the 2016 presidential election across multiple counties, finding that inadequate resources and staffing are key drivers of long lines.

In this paper, Cantoni Indicates that extending the distance to a polling place by a quarter mile decreases voter turnout by one to three percentage points, with a greater impact observed in areas with higher proportions of non-white voters.

This paper proposes a two-part framework for evaluating ballot-marking device verification, finding that while most voters can detect errors when they check their ballot, most do not check their ballot in the first place.

This paper analyzes how vote centers influence voter turnout in various election types in Texas, showing that their effect depends on the election context and voter demographics.

This paper finds that large numbers of voters do not perceive their ballots as secret and harbor doubts about the institution's ability to keep them private, with perceptions varying by voting method and polling place design.

In this MS thesis, Bernardo investigates how ballot-length metrics (words, questions, selections, pages, sheets, bilingual status) affect voting errors during the 2018 Rhode Island midterm election. He uses logistic regression models that control for municipal- and precinct-level demographics to analyze machine-based, human-machine interaction, and ballot-marking errors. Bernardo finds that longer ballots and urban precincts significantly increase the odds of voting errors, with implications for ballot design and jurisdiction-level oversight.

In this MS thesis, Houghton develops a methodology to estimate voter arrival rates at polling stations using electronic poll book transaction logs. It includes service time observations collected through time studies during the 2018 Rhode Island midterm election across seven precincts. The study applies a Hidden Markov Model to infer voter arrival patterns from the check-in records. Finds that e-pollbook logs offer a scalable, less labor-intensive alternative to manual observation for estimating arrival rates.

This research focuses on whether voters’ confidence is shaped by the racial or ethnic representation of poll workers and election staff.

In this paper, authors develop models to estimate voter service times from voting machine log data, providing election officials with a scalable approach to analyze and improve polling place operations.

In this paper, authors use administrative data on incidents at polling places to show that in-person voting problems occur at low overall rates but tend to recur at the same polling places across multiple elections, suggesting that targeted intervention can be effective.

In this paper, authors identify strong negative associations between strict voter ID laws and turnout rates among racial and ethnic minority voters.

This paper finds that Black and Latino voters generally wait longer in line to vote than white voters. These instances occur with longer wait times, usually observed in neighborhoods with higher minority populations compared to predominantly white neighborhoods.