Resources

Use our resource library to explore the latest research in the field of election science.

155 Resources

Charlotte Hill, Jake Grumbach, Adam Bonica, Hakeem JeffersonEvans Policy Innovation Collaborative2023
Voting by Mail Academic Papers

Overall, 1.5 percent of all primary ballots cast and 1.1 percent of general election ballots cast were rejected across elections from 2012 to 2022 in Washington. There is evidence that voters of color have higher ballot rejection rates than White voters. Self-identifying male voters have slightly higher ballot rejection rates than self-identifying female voters in both primary and general elections. Younger voters have a much higher ballot rejection rate than older voters.

Voting by Mail Issue Briefs

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of absentee/mail voting and early in-person policies between January 2020 (pre-pandemic) and November 2022. This research highlights that most absentee/mail voting policies were not significantly affected by the pandemic. If changes were made to policies for the 2020 election, they reverted to the policy existing prior to the pandemic.

Whitney Quesenbery, Lynn Baumeister, Dana ChisnellNational Institute of Standards2023
Usability & Accessibility Reports

This document is the third part of a series of documents on the usability of electronic pollbooks and is supplementary to Part Two in the series, Usability Testing for E-pollbooks: A
Test Protocol.

Sarah Blahovec, Whitney Quesenbery, Sharon J. LaskowskiNational Institute of Standards2023
Usability & Accessibility Reports

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.

Michael RitterWashington State University2023
Voting by Mail Academic Papers

This study demonstrates that the level of accessibility of state absentee and mail voting laws as well as their administration have significant effects on voter turnout. The results also reveal that higher performing U.S. Postal Service administration can enhance the impact of absentee and mail voting laws, particularly in states with the most restrictive mail voting laws.

Paul Gronke, Mindy Romero, Enrijeta Shino, Daniel M. ThompsonMIT Election Data + Science Lab2023
Voting by Mail Issue Briefs

This brief documents the emergence and growth of mail balloting and details the unique administrative arrangements associated with this method of voting, related research and best practices, and areas where there is still more to learn. Voting by uniformed and overseas citizens—"UOCAVA” voters—is a special case not focused on in this report.

Douglas R. HessInstitute for Responsive Government2023
Usability & Accessibility Reports

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.

Whitney Quesenbery, Lynn Baumeister, Dana ChisnellNational Institute of Standards2023
Usability & Accessibility Reports

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.

Samuel Absher, Jennifer KavanaghRAND Corporation2023
Voting by Mail Academic Papers

This report examines the impact of voting laws on voter turnout and choice of voting method (referred to from here on as voting method) in the 2020 election and the effects of in-person voting on the spread of COVID-19.

Jean Schroedel, Melissa Ziegler Rogers, Joseph DietrichClaremont Graduate University2023
Voting by Mail Academic Papers

In this paper, authors examine how decisions made by the USPS in the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have resulted in deeply entrenched structural inequities in the access to mail services on the Navajo Nation in Arizona when compared to rural nonreservation communities. These findings bear significant implications for mail ballot access by those of the Navajo Nation.

Melissa Rogers, Jean Schroedel, Joseph DietrichClaremont Graduate University2023
Usability & Accessibility Academic Papers

In this paper, authors analyze access to vote by mail and other voting methods among Native voters. Authors begin by examining the historical, structural inequities in access to mail services on reservations and utilize data on precinct locations, post office locations, drop box locations, and Election Day voting sites to show how limited access to these sites and services adversely impacts Native voters when compared to both rural and urban Arizona voters.

Whitney Quesenbery, Lynn Baumeister, Shanée DawkinsNational Institute of Standards2023
Usability & Accessibility Reports

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.