Convened by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science
Main | Participants
Issue 1: Election Standard Operating Procedures
Most effective organizations have standards operating procedures (SOPs) that
govern the behavior of actors in the organization. SOPs for elections would
cover everything from the pre-election testing of machines to Election Day precinct
activities to post election auditing. Unfortunately, there are no model SOPs
for most aspects of election administration. Moreover, many states have very
unclear election laws. For example, many of the new voter-verified paper audit
trail laws do not specify what form is the official ballot, what to do if the
two forms conflict, or how to secure the VVPAT canister. The EAC’s Vote Count
and Recount Study will provide a baseline for understanding the SOPs for elections
and for identifying best practices for an array of election activities. This
study is being conducted by Thad Hall, Michael Alvarez (Caltech), and Doug Chapin
(electionline.org).
Additional Research:
- Understanding election operations management. How do we establish polling
place practices and procedures to limit lines inside polls? Where do we site
polls to maximize access and usability?
- What is the best procedure for testing election equipment and for auditing
election results?
Issue 2: Poll Workers
In almost all states, elections are administered by poll workers. One secretary
of state has referred to poll workers as “street level lawyers” because they
make determinations about who votes and how election laws are actually administered
on Election Day. Yet we know little about poll workers and how voters view
them. There is an effort ongoing by several scholars across the country to
survey poll workers to understand better their attitudes and attribute. These
surveys are being supplemented by surveys of voters in order to determine how
voters view poll workers and the election process more generally.
Additional Research:
- What is the most effective way to train poll workers? Is there a generic
curriculum that would work nationally?
- What type of information and how-to materials do poll workers need to do
their jobs in the polling place on Election Day?
Issue 3: Confidence
We need to understand better the factors that affect voter confidence in democracy
and in the vote counting process. One study done by Alvarez and Hall identified
socio-demographic factors related to confidence in vote counting. Another study,
done by Hall, Quin Monson, and Kelly Patterson (Brigham Young University) found
that the quality of poll worker-voter interactions affect voter confidence.
Given all of the change that is occurring in the election process, understanding
what makes voters confidence in the electoral process is critical to maintaining
public support for our election processes. It is important to determine what
aspects of confidence are related to partisanship and election outcomes (“sore
loser effects” and which aspects of confidence are attributable to factors that
election officials can control.
Issue 4: Election Fraud
During every federal election, some election across the country results in
a claim of election fraud. Unfortunately, we know little about election fraud
in America, especially how to detect it and how to prevent it. Election fraud
claims can obviously affect voter confidence. A set of papers are being published
on this topic next year in an edited volume (Alvarez, Hall, and Hyde, editors)
that will help election officials and other interested parties know how to use
election data to identify anomalies in election results.
Issue 5: Election System
Interoperability
There is a developing interest in making voter registration systems and voting
systems interoperable. Interoperability will improve data exchange among state
voter registration systems, which is important as voters remain highly mobile
across state boundaries. The idea of interoperability and data exchange in
voter registration has been outlined by Alvarez and Hall in a report for the
IBM Center for the Business of Government.
Additional Research:
- What state laws, processes, and procedures limit interoperability?
- A pilot test of an interoperable voter registration system is needed among
states to identify issues associated with this effort and to determine how
to make interoperability most efficacious.
Issue 6: Future Technologies
in Voting
As America continues its paper versus touchscreen debate, European and Asian
nations are moving forward with tests of and the implementation of alternate
voting technologies, such as Internet voting. Here, remote and non-Election
Day voting is becoming more widely used through absentee and early voting, but
not Internet voting.
Additional Research:
- What can the United States learn from European and Asian Internet voting
efforts?
- A pilot test of various systems for UOCAVA voters that bypasses some, if
not all, of the mail system
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