Archive for August 2012

A new paper examines the potential of a lottery to boost turnout and finds that a system with a large number of small payouts could improve participation among non-voters. Don’t spend your winnings yet, though – it would take a big policy change to make it happen.

The Minnesota Supreme Court recently rejected challenges to a ballot question asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment on voter ID. That decision tees up a fall vote that could even overshadow the race for the White House.

New York, which so often trails the pack on election administration, is actually in the middle of the curve on online voter registration – the biggest state to adopt the practice so far.

Yesterday’s federal court opinion about provisional ballots in Ohio raises numerous big issues that the Supreme Court could eventually have to answer – but it also poses a tiny problem that’s just as fascinating.

As we approach ten weeks to Election Day, a number of high-profile cases that could roil the election process are still unresolved.

Pew’s election team has produced an absolutely gorgeous interactive graphic on voter participation across the country 1990-2010. Check it out!

In many communities, voter rolls are used as part of the database for calls to jury duty. Recently, the relationship between the jury box and the voting booth has been significant in the other direction as well.

The DC Board of Elections is the target of a lawsuit by a group of citizens trying to get an amendment on the November ballot. What makes it interesting is the theory of the case: that DCBOE doesn’t know the law – and can’t do math.

A federal court in Minnesota recently rejected challenges to the state’s EDR system; while an appeal is likely, all eyes now turn to a court case on the fate of the voter ID amendment slated to be on this November’s ballot.

Ohio is at war again over election policy – this time about early voting. Unfortunately, the argument has gotten so partisan (and now includes a racial aspect) which does not bode well for a clear or well-reasoned outcome.