Resources

This reports provides an introductory guide to post-election tabulation audits, designed primarily for election officials who want to begin, improve, or better understand post-election audit practices.

This issue brief explains the distinct purposes of audits and recounts and how both can contribute to confidence in election outcomes.

In this PhD dissertation, Houghton develops advanced algorithmic methods to model voter arrival behavior and vote center utilization to support election resource and capacity planning. Three core contributions: (1) compares voters’ demographic characteristics across three vote center types during the 11-day voting period across multiple elections; (2) analyzes how voters choose among multiple available vote center locations by using graph-based methods to analyze network data and perform statistical community detection; and (3) uses spatial access metrics as input to a genetic algorithm to optimize location selection for vote center siting decisions.

This report from Verified Voting compares audit and recount laws in seven 2024 swing states, clarifying differences between audits and recounts for public understanding.

This tool provides three resources to help election officials write and design poll worker manuals that make it easy for poll workers to quickly find information, even in stressful situations on Election Day. It includes best practices, templates, and a toolkit.

This publicly available tool helps election offices plan for in-person voting by estimating voter wait times. Voters can also use it to estimate how long they will wait in line, based on factors such as ballot questions and polling place resources.

This brief explains risk limiting audits, how they differ from fixed-percentage audits, and state adoption trends.

In this paper, authors use simulation to study how COVID-19-era polling location consolidation strategies affected voter wait times and resource allocation in Rhode Island, with lessons for future election planning.

This toolkit provides nonpartisan operational best practices and starter templates for social media, press releases, and voter-facing communications to help election offices respond to planned or unplanned polling place closures and maintain operational continuity.

This brief provides a current overview of post-election tabulation audits, state requirements, audit types, and policy considerations.

This report analyzes a Maryland bill that would require risk-limiting audits after statewide elections, including fiscal and administrative implications.

In this paper, authors provide a structured, data-driven framework to help election officials make consolidation decisions by applying it in a case study using Richland County, South Carolina data. The paper names an integer programming model, the Polling Location Consolidation Problem (PLCP), that simultaneously selects polling locations, reassigns voter precincts, and allocates resources while minimizing increases in voter travel distance.