Resources

Research shows that printed ballots pose challenges for blind voters and low-vision voters, who cannot read them directly.
This is a report of a project examining the legibility of summary ballots printed by ballot marking devices. The goal of the investigation was to to identify aspects of design, layout, or typography that can make a summary-style ballot easier to read and to increase the likelihood that voters detect a mistake or change on their ballot.

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.

In this article, authors argue that supported decision making is ideal for people with dynamic cognitive and functional impairments that place them at the margins of autonomy. This research supports the idea that people with cognitive
disabilities can make important decisions such as voting while relying on trusted assistors in executing those decisions.

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 examines election-related hurdles that hinder or prevent people with disabilities from participating fully in U.S. elections, including during the 2020 election cycle. It offers recommendations that policymakers can adopt to improve election accessibility for voters with disabilities.

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.

In this paper, authors examine the effects of automatic voter registration (AVR) on both registration and turnout. They find that ind it does raise registration rates substantially, that the effect of AVR gradually builds the longer it is in place, and that the different types of AVR have significantly different effects on both registration and turnout.

This report details the design and usability testing of an accessible ranked-choice voting ballot interface built to work for voters who are blind or very low vision, have limited or no use of their hands, or have cognitive or attention disabilities. Testing with participants with various disabilities found that no single design can be fully optimized for all modes, but a workable default is achievable.

This paper examines the factors underlying low turnout rates among youth voters. Using the 2004 - 2016 Current Population Survey, authors find that restrictive environments disproportionately hurt young voters by decreasing the probability they turn out by 16 percentage points, compared with older voters.

This book examines how elections are run in the United States, highlighting recent innovations in voter registration, voting options, and voter convenience, among other things. Hale and Brown's analyses is supported by original data gathered from state and local election officials and policymakers across the United States.

In this paper, authors analyze the targeted adoption of early in-person voting on public colleges and university campuses. Using data from the 2018 general election in Florida, authors find uneven effects of the policy reform on overall turnout, but consistent evidence that the adoption of on-campus early voting impacts the timing and volume of voter turnout among this group.

This article, written during the COVID-19 pandemic, discusses the overarching trend of poll worker shortages in U.S. elections. Authors identify potential strategies to address shortages, rooted in the practices of state and local election officials. While the pandemic serves as the backdrop for this article, its recommendations remain relevant to elections today.