Resources

Explains risk limiting audits (RLA) for observers, including steps, what observers should monitor, and how RLAs compare with other post-election checks.

This brief provides recommendations for the U.S. Department of Justice Election Threats Task Force aimed at strengthening protections for election workers against threats of violence. Recommendations include issuing additional guidance for law enforcement, noting the limitations of federal laws protecting election officials and addressing them as well as identifying alternatives to criminal prosecution to help deter threats and esnure the safety of election workers.

In this paper, authors present ALPHA, a flexible risk limiting audit method that can handle sampling without replacement and stratification while learning from audited ballots.

The guide provides a basic framework for testing risk limiting audits in diverse contexts by outlining foundational prerequisites and operational, legal and regulatory considerations

The 2021 Local Election Official Survey explored the views and opinions of 233 local election officials. The survey finds that most election officials are motivated by desires to serve their local community, are concerned about harassment while on the job, and believe that social media is increasing political division.

In this paper, Jones and Stein test an expanded explanation for poll worker recruitment focused on reducing the demand for poll workers through efficiency gains. Based on the results of a national panel survey of election officials, authors find that in-person precinct voting on Election Day is a significant source of difficulty in obtaining poll workers. They offer widely available and political neutral strategies aimed at reducing poll worker scarcity.

This paper shows how reporting data at the ballot-card level can reduce risk limiting audits sample sizes and improve audit efficiency.

The Administration of Voter Registration: Expanding the Electorate Across and Within the States analyzes the evolution and application of administrative election procedures at the state and local levels. It provides foundational knowledge for understanding the complexity of administering elections, specifically in regard to voter registration, and the key processes of administering elections.

This report discusses ballot-accounting audits as a complementary check to tabulation audits, emphasizing reconciliation and chain of custody.

This paper explores whether officials in county governments follow their partisan allegiances when selecting and siting early voting locations. Authors find that the partisanship of county governments does not influence the location of early voting sites, but has modest effects on the number of early voting sites.

This report provides a national overview of post-election audits, audit types, history, and state practices across the United States.

This toolkit helps election officials design and produce the materials poll workers need to set up and operate a polling place or vote center, including layout diagrams, signage, and procedural materials. It covers both traditional polling places and vote center models.