Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project

The Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project (VTP) was formed in the immediate aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. For over fifteen years, the VTP has developed scientific approaches for the study of election administration and voting technology, guided public policy in these areas, and examined the real issues behind the technology and conduct of democratic elections in the United States and in other nations. The VTP is a unique collaborative effort, a research and education initiative that has brought together faculty and students from two of the leading science and engineering universities in the world. Through our interdisciplinary approach to research, we have forged lasting collaborations between our two campuses, and between scholars who work in highly disparate fields, including political science, computer science, economics, operations research, mechanical engineering, and design.

This briefing is the first of a series that the VTP will provide in the 2016 election cycle, as we look back on the history of the VTP’s accomplishments since the tumultuous 2000 presidential election, and from that history examine the current state of scientific knowledge about election administration and voting technology. We use that perspective to discuss the research priorities of the VTP for 2016, and to provide our analysis of the states where we will focus our attention in the 2016 presidential and federal legislative general elections this fall.