EVIC is happy to announce the launch of Resilient Elections, a video series addressing questions of elections management in increasingly uncertain times. The project is framed by the central question “How can scholars and community leaders work together to form an election system that centers equity and will endure an ever-dynamic America?”
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EVIC Stands in Solidarity with Black Americans
EVIC STANDS WITH BLACK AMERICANS
In light of recent unconscionable acts of police brutality, EVIC stands in solidarity with Black Americans.
We further affirm their right to equal access to the ballot. Responding to a history of voter suppression and disenfranchisement, we believe that a free, fair, and secure election system; community outreach; and ongoing research is necessary to ensure equity in the voting process.
We are using these recent events to learn, reflect, and reexamine our beliefs and values to ensure that we are foregrounding justice in our election administration work. Together, we can encourage an election system that supports racial equity and anti-racism.
New Research Relating Partisanship and Automatic Voter Registration
Emergent research relating partisanship, perceptions of election legitimacy, and Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) from Prof. Paul Gronke, Christopher B. Mann, and Natalie Adona.
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(Crossposted from https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2020/gronkewinscarnegie.html)
Reed College Professor of Political Science Paul Gronke was selected as part of the 2020 class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows. The prestigious award supports high-caliber scholarship in the social sciences and humanities, making it possible for recipients to continue their research on pressing issues and cultural transitions affecting U.S. citizens at home and abroad. Professor Gronke was recognized for his scholarship on election security and accessibility.
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Reform from the Trenches: How Local Election Officials Weigh the Vote By Mail Option
COVID-19 has forced much of the country to reevaluate the way it does business, and elections are no exception. We’ve already seen primaries postponed in 15 states and cancelled in New York. Wisconsin’s in-person primary at the start of April saw shortages of polling places and poll workers, as well as difficulties managing a tenfold increase in absentee ballot requests. All of this has unfolded in an atmosphere of partisan bickering about how to best assure a safe, secure, and accessible November election.
While many decisions about elections are being made at the state (or even national) level, the job of implementing these changes and administering elections falls on the roughly 8,000 local election officials (LEOs) across the country, a group that we have called the “stewards of democracy.”
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A new report released today by the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College provides a roadmap to state election officials when developing a systematic election-performance auditing process for the State of Oregon. The report is a collaboration between Reed College and Caltech, with funding provided by the Oregon Secretary of State, Elections Division.
“The report demonstrates the integrity of Oregon’s registration system, but also that the system needs to be modernized to be able to take advantage of modern technology tools and analysis. The performance audit process innovated by Caltech is an invaluable tool for election administrators to pressure test registration and balloting systems.”
— Paul Gronke, Director, Early Voting Information Center
A new piece in Belt Magazine maps out challenges facing the national call for expanding vote by mail. EVIC’s Director, Dr. Gronke notes the transition is a challenge akin to moving from “Walmart to Amazon” in short period of time. Along with other election administration scholars, this piece surveys the questions election administrators face. Read more here: “Democracy by Mail.”
By Paul Gronke and Jay Lee ’19
Oregon is in the midst of an experiment: how will voter turnout change in response to free paid postage on ballot return envelopes? Already, as shown in the figure below, we have some indications that turnout could exceed the 40% level of 2008. The 2008 and 2020 lines are eerily similar.
But many things have changed in the state that makes it difficult to make comparisons until we have the certified voter file.
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