Resources

Use our resource library to explore the latest research in the field of election science.

45 Resources

Usability & Accessibility In-Person Voting Tools

This guide walks election officials through how to make election technologies such as online voter registration, polling place apps, and electronic poll books accessible to people with disabilities. It introduces the POUR principles as a framework for evaluating accessibility, recommends a layered testing approach for election systems, and points to free accessibility tools.

Stephen Graves, Rong YuanCaltech-MIT Voting Technology Project2015
In-Person Voting Tools

This tool uses queueing theory to calculate the minimum number of service stations (poll books, voting booths, etc.) at each step of the polling place process to meet a target maximum wait time. It offers both a web interface for simple models and a downloadable Excel spreadsheet for jurisdiction-wide planning across hundreds of polling places simultaneously.

Mark PelczarskiCaltech-MIT Voting Technology Project2015
In-Person Voting Tools

This simulation tool estimates potential voter wait times based on projected turnout, average time to vote for a specific ballot and equipment, and average check-in time per voter. It helps officials understand how different combinations of resources and voter loads translate into line lengths.

Charles Stewart III, Stephen Graves, Aaron Strauss, Mark PelczarskiCaltech-MIT Voting Technology Project2015
In-Person Voting Tools

This resource is an open-access election management toolkit with calculators and tools to help election officials plan polling place resources, minimize wait times, and optimize poll worker and equipment allocation.

Usability & Accessibility Tools

This resource allows election officials to estimate the number of accessible voting machines needed at a given polling place to meet target wait times for voters with disabilities. This calculation accounts for factors such as number of in-person voters, check-in stations, and hand-marked ballot voting stations, among others.

National Federation of the Blind
Usability & Accessibility Workforce Tools

This resource provides an overview of the federal laws that facilitate voting by people with disabilities. It contains links to resources and tools for election officials and organizations to understand the experiences of voters who are blind or low vision and to learn how to better serve them. This includes materials that educate and encourage blind voters to become poll workers.

U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, Center for Tech and Civic Life
Usability & Accessibility Tools

This usability testing kit contains a collection of guidelines and templates to help election officials check the usability of election materials. They are intended to help election officials systematize their usability tests, produce reliable findings, and expand their ability to test voting materials thoroughly with real users.

Ready for Tuesday
Voter Trust Tools

VoterCast is a tool for election officials aimed at streamlining the voter outreach process using research-backed content.

U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, Center for Tech and Civic Life
In-Person Voting Tools

Use this tool to estimate how long it takes voters to mark a ballot.