Although all LEOs share some basic responsibilities, there is enormous variation in the scope of their roles, the kinds of communities they serve, the size of their operations, and much more. For instance, although there are over 8,000 LEOs in the country, almost half of the registered voters in the country are served by just 2% of LEOs.
These create unique challenges for a creates a unique for conducting a random sample survey of local election officials. The first challenge is sampling: creating a comprehensive list of jurisdictions and LEOs and choosing a sampling method from such a uniquely distributed population. The second challenge is to create a survey questionnaire that captures the collective experience of LEOs across the country but also provides sufficient nuance to adequately reflect the diverse legal, administrative, and political environments that constitute the “complex quilt” of American elections. Our surveys have been iterative, building upon the expertise we have gained in each subsequent year. Over the past four years, EVIC has developed the state of the art expertise for sampling and surveying local election administrators.
Our work rests on the foundations built by scholars and researchers who preceded us, most notably Eric Fischer’s groundbreaking work at the Congressional Research Service in 2004, 2006, and 2008. Other innovators in the field include Dr. David Kimball at the University of Missouri, St Louis; Dr. Barry Burden at the Elections Research Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Rebecca Gambler at the Government Accounting Office, and many other researchers, election officials, and allies in the elections and democracy space.