Resources

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.

This report is the second part of a series of documents on the usability of electronic pollbooks. It outlines a procedure for how e-pollbooks might be evaluated, including a preliminary protocol for running a usability test. It can be used by people designing or purchasing an e-pollbook, as a usability component for a certification or approval process, or to determine aspects of the product that need special attention in training poll workers.

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.

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 is intended to assist election officials in developing poll worker training to support voters with disabilities at the polling place. This work is in response to the inconsistency of available training materials for poll workers on how to set up accessible voting systems and support voters in using them.

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.

This report explores the usability and accessibility of e-pollbooks and their use by poll workers and voters. It reports on the use of e-pollbooks in the U.S.; their software, hardware, and interface design, usability, and evaluation. Also presented are the processes in which e-pollbooks are used and state laws encouraging or prohibiting their use.

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.

Authors find that improving the effectiveness of voter registration through Medicaid transactions and oth-
er agencies covered by the National Voter Regis-
tration Act of 1993 could have an impact
on the number of people with disabilities who are
registered to vote or have their registration auto-
matically updated, and therefore are ready to vote.

In this paper, authors compare electronic and paper ballot voting systems, examining how election laws directly impact operational efficiency and capacity, and what this means for polling place design and resource allocation.

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.

The biennial comprehensive survey of election administration across all 50 states, five territories, and D.C., covering the 2022 midterm general election—widely seen as a return to normal operations after the COVID-19-disrupted 2020 election. Key in-person voting findings include: 645,219 poll workers assisted with early and Election Day voting, including more than 80,000 first-time poll workers (16.7% of the total); election officials reported that poll worker recruitment was meaningfully easier than in the 2018 midterms; e-pollbook adoption grew significantly, with 2,271 local jurisdictions in 40 states using them (up 60% from 2008); nearly all states (94.6%) reported conducting logic and accuracy testing of voting machines before tabulation; and the 2022 EAVS collected data on drop boxes and ballot curing for the first time, finding nearly 13,000 drop boxes in use nationally. The survey also covers voter registration, UOCAVA voting, absentee voting, provisional balloting, and voting technology across all reporting jurisdictions.