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Heather K. Gerken, The Democracy Index: Why Our Election System is Failing and How to Fix it. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009, 181 pp., $24.95 (hardcover). Heather Gerken's book, [...]

An increasing number of public policy issues are decided by ballot measures in the United States. We examine residual votes (the difference between the total ballots cast and the votes cast in a particular contest) on ballot issues and the presidential contest in 34 states that had issues on the ballot in the 2004 election. Residual vote levels for ballot issues are substantially higher and more varied than for the presidential contest. Residual votes in both types of contests are a function of ballot features, voting technology, campaign context, and demographic measures. However, some factors, especially voting machinery, have different effects on residual votes for president than on residual votes for ballot issues. A case study further indicates that full-face electronic voting machines sharply increase the number of residual votes on ballot measures. The results have implications for direct democracy and election reform in the United States. Keywords: election reform; residual votes; direct legislation; initiatives; ballot design; rolloff

The 2000 presidential election and the recount battle in Florida focused attention on local election administration in the United States. The Help America Vote Act, passed by the federal government in 2002, requires wholesale changes in voting equipment and other election procedures. However, the law did not address the selection of individuals who manage elections: both state and local election officials play a great role implementing federal and state election laws. Recently, several election reform advocates have argued for shifting to nonpartisan election administrators in the United States. Others, particularly associations representing election officials, have not endorsed that position. To inform this debate, we provide data on the selection methods and party affiliations for all local election officials in the United States (more than 4,500 individuals or commissions). We find considerable variation in the methods used to select state and local election officials in the United States., Introduction The United States has experienced several sweeping changes in election equipment and procedures since the disputed 2000 presidential election. To date, however, these changes have not addressed the selection [...]

Many states have adopted laws requiring voters to present photo identification on Election Day. How are these laws implemented in a highly decentralized system of election administration? We report on a study of photo ID implementation in Missouri, focusing on the number of voters who check in at a polling place without photo identification during local and special elections held under the new law. These elections serve as early tests of the photo ID law and offer support for some hypotheses derived from implementation theory. We find evidence of uneven implementation of the photo ID requirement in Missouri. Local jurisdictions using electronic poll books checked in a much larger volume of voters without photo ID than jurisdictions using traditional paper poll books. Interviews with local officials suggest that voter and poll worker behaviour contribute to this pattern. Furthermore, other features, particularly jurisdiction size and the administrative and partisan structure of local officials, are associated with the number of voters who check in without photo identification. Therefore, the use of electronic poll books might overstate the number of voters lacking photo identification. In a decentralized system of election administration, it can be challenging to uniformly implement new voting requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]