Resources

While the evidence is clear that 2020 voters shifted away from Election Day voting in favor of vote-by-mail and early voting, very is known about how health risk versus party polarization around risk assessment influenced how and when to vote. The research finds that age and party were large factors in vote mode decisions in 2020, but not in 2016 or 2018.

Drawing on a large survey of validated Florida voters, including those who regularly vote by mail, the research finds that retrospective and prospective misreporting of vote method prior to the 2020 General Election was driven primarily by support for Trump. The president’s supporters who were most politically aware were most likely to disavow their own voting by mail and misreport their anticipated vote method in the November election.

This research finds even in the absence of elite claims of vote fraud, authors see strong and immediate shifts in mass views. Once the results became clear, those who supported the losing side became significantly less likely to trust that votes were counted correctly or to be satisfied with the election process, while trust and support for the process rose from pre-to post-election for voters on the winning side.

This research finds that voters with greater general political knowledge are more likely to vote early, and those with low political knowledge are more likely to wait until Election Day to cast their ballot.

The research finds that information about possible coronavirus exposures decreases comfort with voting in-person yet does not increase comfort with voting by mail.

This survey / research report focuses on election misinformation, fraud narratives, or public misperceptions and their effects on confidence in U.S. elections. It is relevant because beliefs about fraud and exposure to misleading claims are central mechanisms through which confidence in election outcomes rises or falls. For this dataset, it adds evidence on one of the recurring drivers of election trust: experience, information, partisanship, security, or institutional performance.

This report seeks to inform discourse surrounding the implementation and impacts of vote by mail (VBM) policies by evaluating modern use-cases. Authors examine the history of VBM policies, the landscape of current research on VBM and analyze the use of VBM in Utah as a caste study. Report findings indicate that, when implemented well, VBM is a secure and successful means of casting a ballot

The past two decades have seen a decline in trust in American elections that has primarily been driven by a slow but steady decline in trust among Republicans. Surprisingly, the increased polarization in trust most recently has been due more to Democrats suddenly becoming more trusting. Election officials must continue to try to overcome attacks on trust in the system, but it is unclear how long they can sustain the legal system guaranteeing free and fair elections without broad-based public trust in how elections are administered.

Authors use official statewide voter file and mail-in ballot data from the 2018 midterm election in Georgia to test whether certain voters are more likely to cast a mail ballot that does not count. In their analysis, authors distinguish between ballots rejected for lateness and those rejected for a mistake on the return envelope, finding that newly registered, young, and minority voters have higher rejection rates compared with their counterparts.

These results suggest that making it easier to vote by mail—especially mailing every voter a ballot—generally does increase turnout, both before and during the 2020 election. By contrast, the same policies do not have robust partisan effects, and in many models, they tilt the results in a more Republican direction.

This National Task Force on Election Crises resource explains how election officials communicate results, conduct canvasses and audits, and confirm outcomes to build public trust.

This report, issued by the Office of the State Auditor, summarizes a statistical analysis of ballots submitted in the Washington 2020 general elections, with an emphasis on understanding common reasons and predictors of ballot rejection. Its findings point to the county where a ballot was cast as being the most significant variable related to ballot rejection. The report concludes with recommendations for the state aimed at reducing ballot rejections.