Resources

In this paper, authors explore the role of polling place inaccessibility in contributing to the voting gap among people with disabilities. Authors found that, in the 2012 elections, the turnout gap was reduced but not eliminated and that 30% of voters with disabilities experienced difficulties voting. These findings support the claim that difficulties voting depress voter turnout.

This paper analyzes the contextual factors shaping citizens' decisions to volunteer as poll worker. Using the experiences of Mexican pollworkers, the authors highlight the role of sociopolitical contexts in affecting polling place operations, including the impacts of electoral competition and rising violence.

This paper evaluates the role of state policy and election precinct evaluations on citizen confidence in individual and nationwide electoral outcomes. King finds that valuations of voting precincts, specifically poll workers, polling locations, and voting machines have an effect on electoral confidence. However, confidence is not consistent and varies based on racial identification and partisan affiliation.

In 2016, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) provided a report to congress in which they provide a literature review and outline election officials regarding issues with registering voters and administering elections. Through this study, the GAO found that the benefits of collecting and sharing voter registration information electronically included improved accuracy and cost savings; while challenges included upfront investments and ongoing maintenance, among other things.

This article highlights the complexity of designing and implementing poll worker training programs given the varying requirements of federal, state and local laws. Authors examine the unique practices of administrators in Williamson County, Texas, hearing first-hand and how they identify shortcomings of poll worker programs and implement improvements based on lessons learned.

Hale and Brown examine the local networks of election officials throughout the U.S. and the information exchanged between them. They demonstrate the ways in which local networks are central to innovation, key to the spread of new ideas from one locality to another, and fundamental to improving this area of public service across the country.

The analysis found that insufficient data exist to determine whether citizens are successfully and regularly offered these voter registration opportunities.

This brief provides a summary of the survey's major findings in five areas—cost, implementation, voter convenience, system management, and online security—and then examines ways in which these states would like to improve online voter registration.

This report finds that from 2008 to 2012, ERIC states: Increased their new-voter registration rates by 1.14 percentage points, compared with just 0.27 points in non-ERIC states. Experienced a 3.39-point decrease in the rate of individuals citing registration problems as their reason for not voting, compared with a 0.57-point decline in non-ERIC states. Had an increase of just 0.10 percentage points in the use of provisional ballots—which are often issued to voters with problematic registration status; in non-ERIC states, the use of these ballots grew by 0.36 points.

Research commissioned by the Pew Center on the States highlights the extent of the challenge of maintaining voter lists: Approximately 24 million—one of every eight—voter registrations in the United States are no longer valid or are significantly inaccurate. More than 1.8 million deceased individuals are listed as voters. Approximately 2.75 million people have registrations in more than one state. Meanwhile, researchers estimate at least 51 million eligible U.S. citizens are unregistered, or more than 24 percent of the eligible population.

This paper examines the relationship between individuals' public service motivation (PSM) and their work sector (public, nonprofit, or for-profit) preferences. Authors find that PSM is a moderate indicator of an individual's sector preference, notably, as PSM increases, the desire to work in the public sector also increases, relative to the for-profit sector. The findings of this paper bear potential implications for understanding the motivations of election officials and poll workers in serving the public.

This March 2010 report provided a comprehensive examination of the implementation, operation, public confidence and usage of online voter registration in Arizona and Washington