Latest Research from the VTP

Voter trust in the Netherlands between 2006 and 2010

Submitted by gbain on Wed, 08/17/2011 - 13:24
Working Paper No.: 
18
Date Published: 
08/01/2011
Author(s): 
Leontine Loeber
University of Leiden
Abstract: In this paper the trust of Dutch voters in the election process is examined. Since the Parliamentary elections of November 2006, large changes have surrounded the Dutch election process. The widely used voting machines that were introduced in the Netherlands in 1966 were decertified in 2007, causing a return to paper ballot voting. Discussions took place both in the media and in Parliament on election technologies and the trustworthiness of the election process.

Cambios en la forma de votar.

Submitted by gbain on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 09:34
Date Published: 
08/01/2011
Author(s): 
Carolina Tchintian • Anastasia Peralta Ramos
Julia Pomares • Marcelo Leiras • María Page
En la Argentina utilizamos el sistema de votación de boletas múltiples, una por partido político o alianza. Sin embargo, algunas provincias comenzaron a introducir cambios en la forma de votar que están siendo implementados por primera vez durante el proceso electoral de 2011.

The Balance Between Preventing Fraud and Ensuring Participation: Attitudes Towards Voter Identification in New Mexico

Submitted by gbain on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 07:50
Working Paper No.: 
106
Date Published: 
07/01/2011
Author(s): 
R. Michael Alvarez
Caltech
Lonna Rae Atkeson
This paper examines public opinion on the effectiveness and consequences of voter identification laws in New Mexico. In particular, it focuses on the attitudes central to the court reasoning in the 2008 Supreme Court case which upheld an Indiana photo-ID law, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board. Questions include whether or not voters think the ID laws protect against fraud and prevent legitimate participation, as well as which point of view voters find more compelling and whether or not attitudes towards voter identification are related to voter confidence.

Election Administration Finance in California Counties

Submitted by gbain on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 15:06
Author(s): 
Sarah A. Hill
California State University
Fullerton
Journal: 
Annual Review of Political Science
pp: 
Forthcoming
Link to Article: 
Abstract

Voting Technology, Vote-by-Mail, and Residual Votes in California, 1990-2010

Submitted by gbain on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 09:20
Working Paper No.: 
105
Date Published: 
05/05/2011
Author(s): 
R. Michael Alvarez
Caltech
Charles Stewart III
This paper examines how the growth in vote-by-mail and changes in voting technologies led to changes in the residual vote rate in California from 1990 to 2010. We find that in California’s presidential elections, counties that abandoned punch cards in favor of optical scanning enjoyed a significant improvement in the residual vote rate. However, these findings do not always translate to other races.

Voting Technologies

Submitted by gbain on Thu, 06/02/2011 - 15:50
in: 
Featured Content
Author(s): 
Charles Stewart III
MIT
Journal: 
Annual Review of Political Science
pp: 
353-378
Link to Article: 
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.polisci.12.053007.145205
Date Published: 
05/01/2011
A renewed, energetic interest in voting technologies erupted in political science following the 2000 presidential election. Spawned initially by the recount controversy in Florida, the literature has grown to consider the effects of voting technologies on the vote choice more generally. This literature has explained why localities have the voting technologies (lever machines, punch cards, etc.) they use.

Partisan Bias in Evaluating U.S. Elections during the HAVA Decade: A Natural Experiment

Submitted by gbain on Mon, 04/11/2011 - 08:58
Date Published: 
04/01/2011
Author(s): 
Shaun Bowler
University of California
Riverside
Controversies over the conduct of elections prompted a variety of reform efforts during the last decade, notably The Help America Vote Act. HAVA and state-level measures like California's Voting Modernization Bond Act allowed local governments to replace obsolete election equipment with more technologically advanced voting machines. The machinery of democracy appears to affect voter confidence in elections. However, these judgments are also associated with party identification and other voter characteristics.

Disputed Elections Post Bush v. Gore: Are Federal Courts Entering the Political Contest Thicket?

Submitted by gbain on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 08:45
Working Paper No.: 
17
Date Published: 
04/16/2011
Author(s): 
Mark Braden
Of Counsel
Baker Hostetler
Introduction

The Cites That Counted: A Decade of Bush v. Gore Jurisprudence

Submitted by gbain on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 08:39
Working Paper No.: 
16
Date Published: 
04/16/2011
Author(s): 
Charles Anthony Smith
University of California - Irvine
Introduction When the Supreme Court issued the opinion that resolved the 2000 presidential election in George W. Bush’s favor, the five justice coalition responsible for the decision went to great lengths to stress that the opinion should not be construed as an explication or expansion of any legal doctrine or concept. The per curium opinion, presumably authored by Chief Justice Rehnquist, specifically tried to narrow the applicability of the legal reasoning that resolved the equal protection claim by including the following passage:

What Hath HAVA Wrought? Consequences, Intended and Not, of the Post-Bush v. Gore Reforms

Submitted by gbain on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 10:37
in: 
Featured Content
Working Paper No.: 
102
Date Published: 
04/07/2011
Author(s): 
Charles Stewart III
MIT
The Help America Vote Act (HAVA)1 is the most important direct federal response to the 2000 electoral fiasco in Florida. HAVA had many provisions, some directly inspired by the controversy, others that came along for the ride. In addition to mandating certain changes in how states conducted federal elections, HAVA appropriated $3b for the improvement of voting systems, most of which went to purchase new voting machines.

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