This report summarizes the findings of a 2022 national survey of eligible voters with and without disabilities to understand the role of the internet in accessing voting information. Topics covered include computer and internet use, sources of information on the voting process used in 2020, and accessibility of information sources, among other topics.
Resources
Use our resource library to explore the latest research in the field of election science.
Authors examine the effects of state election administration laws on voter turnout at the state and individual levels for people with disabilities and compare them to that of the non-disabled population. They find that convenience voting reforms such as same-day registration and election-day registration boost turnout for both populations while all mail elections decrease the turnout gap between people with disabilities and the non-disabled.
In researching how to ensure a statewide voter registration database’s accuracy and integrity, this analysis develops a Bayesian multivariate multilevel model to account for correlated patterns of change over time in multiple response variables, and label statewide anomalies using deviations from model predictions.
This report highlights key trends in voter turnout among voters with disabilities in the 2022 elections. Authors note an increase in turnout among these voters compared to the 2018 midterms, especially in states with expanded vote by mail policies. However, approx. 14% of voters with disabilities reported some difficulties voting.
Using monthly data from the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles from 2017 to 2021, the research studies a series of reforms to the voter registration process conducted by the DMV between 2018 and 2020. Prior to the reforms, a large majority of unregistered DMV patrons declined the opportunity to register when conducting a transaction. When voter registration became the clear default option for certain unregistered Colorado DMV patrons in 2020, very few of them subsequently opted out, which resulted in a sudden, large increase in the rate at which DMV patrons registered to vote.
In this article, authors analyze on-site early voting locations on two reservations in Nevada. They find that on-site early voting substantially increased voter turnout in the general election on the reservations studied. These findings support providing convenient locations and longer periods to cast a ballot increases voter turnout.
In this paper, authors match a high-quality, random sample of the U.S. population to multiple lists revealing that at least 11% of the adult citizenry is not on a voter list. An additional 12% is mislisted (i.e., not living at their recorded address).
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 research analyzes registrants in Wisconsin who were identified as potential movers and did not respond to a subsequent postcard. At least 4% of these registrants cast a ballot at their address of registration, with minority registrants twice as likely as white registrants to do so.
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.
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 book examines the dynamics behind shifts in voter registration rates across the states.