Resources

This paper employs discrete-event simulation to model Milwaukee's in-person voting system during COVID-19. It reveals that poll worker shortages, social distancing measures, and PPE requirements can lead to very long voter wait times. The evaluation considers various design strategies to reduce pandemic-related effects, such as adding check-in locations, expanding early voting, and preventing the consolidation of polling sites.

This report examines poll workers in the current election environment, including recruitment challenges, training needs, and the role poll workers play in shaping the voter experience and in building public confidence in elections.

This paper examines how changes in Election Day polling place locations affect voter turnout. The authors analyze voter behavior in three presidential elections in North Carolina (2008 - 2016), finding that these changes reduce Election Day voting on average, but that the reduction is offset by substitution into early voting.

In this paper, authors explore how ballot length affects specific types of voting errors, including human-machine interaction errors and voter ballot-marking errors.

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 paper, Pettigrew demonstrate that for every additional hour a voter waits in line, their probability of voting in the subsequent election drops by one percentage point. He finds that negative experiences carry over to future elections disproportionately for underrepresented voters.

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.

In this paper, authors find that non-white voters are more likely to lack acceptable photo identification, and that those voting without ID are disproportionately Latino and Black.

This MS thesis examines how polling place layout and path directionality affect voting system performance across turnout levels. The author models a two-step voting system in a theoretical 1,000 sq ft polling place using discrete event simulation, testing multiple layout configurations and voter routing strategies. They find that perimeter layouts with unidirectional voter flow minimize average travel distance and time-in-system across turnout levels.

This paper examines which voters are disenfranchised by voter ID laws, finding disproportionate impacts on Latino and Black voters who are more likely to lack required identification.

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.