Resources

Grimmer and Hersh assert that contemporary election reforms that are purported to increase or decrease turnout have negligible effects on election outcomes. They find that election policies have small effects on outcomes because they tend to target small shares of the electorate, have a small effect on turnout, and/or affect voters who are relatively balanced in their partisanship. These effects are not the result of countermobilization from political parties.

This document provides guidance and resources for how to test voting systems against the usability and accessibility requirements in the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) 2.0. The primary audiences for this guide are the voting system test laboratory organizations who perform certification testing.

This report summarizes the findings of a 2022 national survey of eligible voters with and without disabilities to understand the role of the internet in accessing voting information. Topics covered include computer and internet use, sources of information on the voting process used in 2020, and accessibility of information sources, among other topics.

Authors examine the effects of state election administration laws on voter turnout at the state and individual levels for people with disabilities and compare them to that of the non-disabled population. They find that convenience voting reforms such as same-day registration and election-day registration boost turnout for both populations while all mail elections decrease the turnout gap between people with disabilities and the non-disabled.

This research assesses whether messages reinforcing election integrity increased participation in the 2020 election through a large-scale voter mobilization field experiment. California registrants were mailed a letter that described either existing safeguards to prevent vote-by-mail fraud or the ability to track one’s ballot and ensure that it was counted. Analysis of state voter records reveals that neither message increased turnout over a simple election reminder or even no contact.

This report highlights key trends in voter turnout among voters with disabilities in the 2022 elections. Authors note an increase in turnout among these voters compared to the 2018 midterms, especially in states with expanded vote by mail policies. However, approx. 14% of voters with disabilities reported some difficulties voting.

In this article, authors analyze on-site early voting locations on two reservations in Nevada. They find that on-site early voting substantially increased voter turnout in the general election on the reservations studied. These findings support providing convenient locations and longer periods to cast a ballot increases voter turnout.

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 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.

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.

In this paper, authors examine the impact of same day registration (SDR) policies on younger voters. They find that SDR disproportionately increases turnout among individuals aged 18–24 and is especially pronounced in presidential elections. The effects of early voting and other reforms are smaller and do not consistently vary by age.

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.