This Brennan Center survey reports on local election officials’ experiences with security, threats, funding, staffing, and preparation for the 2024 election environment. It is relevant because trusted, timely, and nonpartisan communication is one of the main tools election officials and civic groups use to counter distrust. For this dataset, it helps capture the most recent post-2020 trust environment and the continuing effects of election denial, security concerns, and polarization.
Resources
Use our resource library to explore the latest research in the field of election science.
This report and the guidelines contained therein explain how a successful accessible RCV ballot works for voters with disabilities. The goal of this work was to create a universal design for a Ranked Choice Voting ballot that would work for the most voters without special settings needed.
Study examining what election officials can do to counteract distrust during delays in vote-counting.
This RAND resource addresses technology, misinformation, political violence, or public communication risks that could affect trust in the 2024 election environment. It is relevant because confidence depends not only on actual system security but also on whether voters understand the safeguards protecting registration, voting, and counting. For this dataset, it helps capture the most recent post-2020 trust environment and the continuing effects of election denial, security concerns, and polarization.
This one-pager provides a brief overview of a study conducted on how tours of the Maricopa County, AZ election facility increased trust among tour participants.
One-pager explaining the results of a study where voters were informed election results would be available after a multi-day process, and examining solutions from that study to improve voter trust in vote counting measures.
This academic article examines how unsupported fraud claims or misperceptions about voting affect confidence in election outcomes and perceived legitimacy. It is relevant to the dataset because it connects election rules, information environments, or administrative performance to public confidence and perceived legitimacy. For this dataset, it helps capture the most recent post-2020 trust environment and the continuing effects of election denial, security concerns, and polarization.
Academic paper examining how race and state policies impact voter trust and confience in electoral systems.
Using a preregistered survey experiment of nearly 10,000 Americans, this article shows that informing voters about longer-than-expected vote counting time induces a large, significant decrease in trust in the election. However, viewing a “prebunking” video in advance of being informed of the delay in results more than makes up for the delay-induced decrease in election trust.
This post-election survey reports on how Americans cast ballots in 2024 and how confident they were that votes were counted accurately.
This paper examines the efficacy of post-election edits in bolstering voter confidence and whether certain aspects of audits have greater impacts than others. Authors find that how an audit is conducted is more important than what an audit finds in influencing voter evaluations of election results.
Paper exploring how vote-by-mail ballot locator and notification systems, such as BallotTrax, can be used to improve voter trust.