In this paper, authors develop an algorithm that can reduce racial disparities in polling place access by suggesting improved placements for polling places from a list of identified public locations at the state level.
Resources
Use our resource library to explore the latest research in the field of election science.
This Article calls attention to the development and derailment of a novel cross-governmental bureaucracy for voter registration.
This paper uses geographic discontinuities at block boundaries to identify the causal effect of polling place assignment on voter turnout, finding that distance to and familiarity with a polling location matter for participation.
This resources provides a step-by-step protocol for test voting system usability and accessibility functions in use, including how well the ballot presents voters with options and allows them to confirm their choices while marking and verify their ballot before casting. This resources is intended for state certification programs and election offices evaluating a new voting system.
This report provides a comprehensive review of the existing literature on in-person voting to determine best practices and identify areas where more research is needed, covering both operational features and the voter experience.
The Voting Location Resource Calculator is an interactive simulation tool that helps election officials estimate voter wait times and identify potential bottlenecks in the voting process. Officials can enter data on existing voting locations, including steps required to vote, layout, and equipment, to simulate current conditions or test changes to resources and processes. Based on observational data from U.S. elections from 2018 to 2024.
This paper examines an unintended consequence of automatic voter registration: effects on party registration. Examining the state of Oregon, a state with back-end AVR, the analysis documents a significant decreases in partisan voter registration rates.
CEIR has surveyed states about voter registration database security every two years since 2018. These surveys have demonstrated widespread best practices in respondent states.
In this paper, authors use simulation-optimization to identify voting equipment allocation requirements across different polling location consolidation strategies, providing guidance for jurisdictions considering consolidation.
This report details how American voters experienced the 2022 midterm election, based on a survey of 10,200 registered voters (including 200 from each state and D.C.), administered by YouGov. Key findings on in-person voting show mail ballot usage declined to 32%, down from 43% in 2020, while Election Day in-person voting increased to 50%. Most voters had short wait times, but racial disparities persisted. Disruptions at polling places were rare but measurable. Voter confidence varied significantly by party, with Republicans showing much lower confidence than Democrats. This is the only SPAE report on a midterm election cycle since 2014, enabling direct comparisons between presidential and midterm voting experiences.
Using this tool, NCSL tracks and classifies voter ID laws across all 50 states along two dimensions: whether they require voters to present an ID and whether the requirement is strict or non-strict.
Using data from Orange County, CA, this research finds that a variation of automatic voter registration that targets existing registrants as opposed to eligible nonregistrants—termed automatic reregistration (ARR)—increases turnout by 5.8 percentage points.