Election Day Registration: A Study of Voter Fraud Allegations and Findings on Voter Roll Security

The specter of fraud in American elections has pervaded our political and media landscape for a long time. In recent years it has been raised again as a key lever in arguments for or against certain state or federal election reforms -- in legislative and judicial bodies, and in the media. Allegations of voter fraud in elections have been widely publicized, but the question of whether voter fraud threatens the integrity of elections in the United States has long been neglected by serious researchers. This report draws on my research into the scale and scope of the problem of voter fraud and the politics of election reform. Here I look at the question of voter fraud in states with Election Day Registration (EDR), a vital reform which, like other procedures that lower barriers to the vote, has been resisted based on unfounded allegations of fraud

The Demographics of Voters in America's 2008 General Election: A Preliminary Assessment

In this memorandum, we assess demographic shifts that took place in the 2008 general election compared to the 2004 general election. While analysis to date has largely commented on the relatively unremarkable increase in the overall number of votes cast, the data presented below suggest that the voting population on Election Day was significantly different -- if not significantly larger -- than in the last presidential election.While it should be noted that the data available at this point, so soon after the election, allow for only a preliminary assessment, we find that votes cast by Americans of color in 2008 increased by 21 percent from 2004, based on a review of exit polling and preliminary administrative data. Votes cast by Americans ages 18-29 increased by 9 percent. Votes cast by whites in 2008 declined slightly compared to 2004.Overall, the available data indicate that the composition of the 2008 voting population was markedly different from 2004, even though the overall numbers of voters who cast ballots did not increase significantly.In the following pages we present and interpret election data from the US as a whole, as well as from seven battleground states: Pennsylvania, Missouri, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico

An analysis of Voter Fraud in The United States

As federal and state officials consider future reform efforts, as well as the merits of existing reforms, there is an acute need for better information and analysis about election and voter fraud issues. While the issue of fraud is raised continually in discussions of election reform, to date there have been few major studies of voter fraud in the United States. Too often in this area, hearsay and anecdotal information are put forth as fact in important public policy debates. Many key questions about fraud remain unanswered, including: How often does voter fraud occur? How serious a problem is fraud compared to other problems with the election process, such as those that occurred in Florida in the 2000 election or in Ohio in 2004? What kinds of voting methods are most vulnerable to corruption? What administrative, technological and legal steps can be taken to reduce the chances of voter fraud while also expanding opportunities to register and vote

The Politics of Voter Fraud

The purpose of this report is to disentangle the myth from the reality and to separate the politics of voter fraud from legitimate administrative concerns about the integrity of the electoral process. To make the argument, we present a usable definition of voter fraud, discuss the problem of evidence, and explain how and why the dynamics of electoral competition drive the use of baseless fraud claims in American politics. We present several contemporary examples to illustrate how poor election administration and voter mistakes are misleadingly labeled "fraud." Recent allegations against voter registration campaigns highlight the need for an analysis sensitive to the partisanship and race and class issues just beneath the surface of most voter fraud claims. The last section of the report makes policy recommendations for improving public understanding and removing the canard of voter fraud from the election reform debate. The appendix discusses what to look for in evaluating voter fraud allegations

Latino New Yorkers in the 2008 Presidential Election: The New Americans Exit Poll

This report focuses on the political attitudes and vote choices of the city’s growing Latino population. An analysis of population flows in New York City since the 9/11 terrorist attacksprovides an important context forunderstanding shifts in turnout and the role immigration is playing in shaping the city’s electorate. These trends, in turn, bear on the continuing diversification of the city’s Latino population, and especially its Latino electorate. The New Americans Exit Poll opens a window onto the diversity of the New York City Latino electorate, and raises questions about the interplay of immigrant political incorporation and Latino identity

New development: Running elections during a pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic posed a profound challenge for the delivery of elections worldwide. Elections are indispensable for democracy, but the high volume of human interactions within the electoral process risked spreading the virus. Electoral officials therefore found themselves planning or managing an election during an emergency situation, often for the first time. This article argues that there are several major organizational ‘elephant traps’ that polities will need to side-step during pandemics in order to safely protect the healthy running of elections. IMPACT: Elections often take place in during emergency situations such as pandemics, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes. In order to secure electoral integrity, this article encourages governments, legislators and electoral management bodies to: build political consensuses, consider the impact on the whole electoral cycle, include a wide range of stakeholders in meetings, invest in sufficient resources, undertake risk assessments and avoid late major changes to electoral law

Jim Crow 2.0?: Why States Consider and Adopt Restrictive Voter Access Policies

In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in state legislation likely to reduce access for some voters, including photo identification and proof of citizenship requirements, registration restrictions, absentee ballot voting restrictions, and reductions in early voting. Political operatives often ascribe malicious motives when their opponents either endorse or oppose such legislation. In an effort to bring empirical clarity and epistemological standards to what has been a deeply charged, partisan and frequently anecdotal debate, this paper uses multiple specialized regression approaches to examine factors associated with both the proposal and adoption of restrictive voter access legislation from 2006-11. Our results indicate that proposal and passage are highly partisan, strategic, and racialized affairs. These findings are consistent with a scenario in which the targeted demobilization of minority voters and African Americans is a central driver of recent legislative developments. We discuss the implications of these results for current partisan and legal debates regarding voter restrictions and our understanding of the conditions incentivizing modern suppression efforts. Further, we situate these policies within developments in social welfare and criminal justice policy that collectively reduce electoral access among the socially marginalized