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Founder & Director: Paul Gronke, PhD
Paul Gronke is a Professor of Political Science at Reed College who studies American politics, specializing in convenience and early voting, election administration, public opinion, and elections. Additionally, Paul serves as Director of the Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC), an election science research center that he founded two decades ago whose researchers are co-located at Reed College and Portland State University (PSU). Under Paul’s leadership, EVIC has become a national center of excellence for policy research and publicly engaged scholarship into election administration, election reform, and electoral integrity. Paul has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles, monographs, and reports on topics ranging from public opinion and trust in government, public opinion about government use of torture, congressional elections, early and no-excuse absentee voting, and automatic voter registration. Paul is regularly featured in national and regional media outlets as a commentator on politics and elections. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the MIT Election Data Science Lab (MEDSL) and the National Vote at Home Institute‘s Circle of Advisors, and he was awarded an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2020. Paul received his PhD in political science from the University of Michigan and has held academic positions at Duke University and Appalachian State University in addition to Reed College. Paul’s academic credentials–including his curriculum vita, courses taught, and other research papers–can be found at his personal Reed web page.
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Research Director: Paul Manson, PhD
Paul Manson is a Research Assistant Professor with the Center for Public Service at Portland State University (PSU). Paul also serves as Research Director for the Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC), an election science research center that Paul Gronke founded two decades ago whose researchers are co-located at PSU and Reed College. Since 2018, Paul has co-led the annual Local Election Official (LEO) Survey conducted by EVIC. His election administration research explores the workforce, budget, and management challenges with which election officials wrestle. Paul has a particular interest in understanding what draws individuals to serve in election administration, and what communities have access to serve in this critical role. In his work, Paul strives to co-produce research efforts with practitioners, allowing research questions to be developed in collaboration with the election community. In addition to survey research and quantitative methods, Paul also applies qualitative tools such as interviews and focus groups to better understand the challenges that face election administrators. As an educator, Paul is fortunate enough to be in the classroom and workshops with mid-career professionals. In these engagements, Paul enjoys sharing the latest in research and academic scholarship. But in reality, these teaching opportunities are a chance for Paul to hear how those on the frontlines are solving emerging and critical problems. Paul graduated from Portland State University with a Master of Public Administration and a PhD in Public Affairs and Policy from the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government. He cast his first and only in person vote at a small church in Alaska, and has been voting by mail ever since moving to Oregon.
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Senior Program Advisor: Michelle M. Shafer
Michelle has over two decades of experience working with private corporations, local and state election administrators, federal agencies, U.S. based non-profits, and international non-governmental organizations in the areas of election technology, administration, research and communications. At EVIC, she coordinates and supports EVIC’s research projects while directing and implementing communications programs surrounding these efforts. Michelle is Managing Principal for Magenta Sage Strategies, LLC, through which she consults for EVIC as Senior Program Advisor in addition to serving other clients. Prior to starting Magenta Sage, she held senior leadership team positions for election technology providers Hart InterCivic, Sequoia Voting Systems, and Scytl. Michelle has an Election Judge in Texas for over a decade and has observed and supported elections in Egypt, Kosovo, and Switzerland. Michelle holds a B.A. from Fordham University and a Public Communications & Issues Management Certificate from the University of Texas at Austin’s Division of Continuing Education.
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EVIC Alumnus: Jay Lee ’19
Jay Lee received his BA in Mathematics-Statistics from Reed College in 2019, where his senior thesis examined demographic disparities in ranked choice voting for a mayoral election in San Francisco. Jay worked with EVIC for the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Local Election Official (LEO) Surveys. He led our effort to develop best in class sampling and weighting procedures to conduct scientifically valid surveys of LEOs.
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EVIC Alumnus: Simon Ahn ’23
Simon Ahn graduated in Fall 2023 with a BA in Mathematics/Statistics. While at EVIC, Simon worked on the Local Election Official (LEO) Survey project, helping to wrangle data, produce visualizations, and helping produce reports and presentations using these data.
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EVIC Alumnus: Abby Durrant ’24
Abby Durrant is a Spring 2024 graduate of Reed with a BA in Political Science. Abby worked closely with the EVIC team to support various projects, including a forthcoming edited volume from Paul Gronke, PhD, and his collaborators. Abby is interested in environmental politics, law, and policy along with her passion for elections and voting rights.
