The Measure of American Elections

This book brings leading scholars together to examine the performance of elections across the United States, using a data-driven perspective.

Barry C. Burden (Edited by), Charles Stewart, III (Edited by)

9781107699915, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 July 2014

377 pages, 46 b/w illus. 53 tables
22.7 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.52 kg

'This is a landmark study of America's highly flawed and increasingly controversial election administration system. It provides authoritative facts that are all too often missing in political debates over election procedures and impartial measures to benchmark our progress toward a better American electoral system. A must-read for anyone interested in the state of American elections.' Bruce E. Cain, Charles Louis Ducommun Professor of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University

Policymaking in the realm of elections is too often grounded in anecdotes and opinions, rather than in good data and scientific research. To remedy this, The Measure of American Elections brings together a dozen leading scholars to examine the performance of elections across the United States, using a data-driven perspective. This book represents a transformation in debates about election reform, away from partisan and ideological posturing, toward using scientific analysis to evaluate the conduct of contemporary elections. The authors harness the power of newly available data to document all aspects of election administration, ranging from the registration of voters to the counting of ballots. They demonstrate what can be learned from giving serious attention to data, measurement, and objective analysis of American elections.

1. The measure of American elections Barry C. Burden and Charles Stewart, III
2. Registration and voting: a view from the top Barry C. Burden
3. Voter registration: the process and quality of lists Stephen Ansolabehere and Eitan Hersh
4. Provisional ballots Michael J. Hanmer and Paul S. Herrnson
5. Mail ballots in the United States: policy choice and administrative challenge Christopher B. Mann
6. Voting from abroad: evaluating UOCAVA voting Thad E. Hall
7. Polling place practices and the voting experience Robert M. Stein and Gregg Vonnahme
8. Disability and election policies and practices Lisa Schur and Douglas Kruse
9. The performance of election machines and the decline of residual votes in the US Charles Stewart, III
10. Voter confidence as a metric of election performance Paul Gronke
11. Election data transparency Lonna Rae Atkeson.

Subject Areas: Law [L], Politics & government [JP]