New Election Academy Course on Voter Eligibility

Regular readers of this blog know that a particular passion of mine – and a mission here at the Humphrey School – is the long-term professionalization of election administration.

From the beginning, one of my goals has been to design learning opportunities that anyone with an interest in election administration can use to develop their knowledge in the field. My hope is that, over time, these courses will expand to include topics of interest to a wide range of election officials at every stage of their careers – from experienced senior professionals to newcomers to election administration work.

That’s why I’m delighted to announce that the Election Academy has just posted our first course – on the very hot topic of voter eligibility. Here’s the summary:

No issue has dominated recent election policy debates in this country like the fight over voter ID and proof of citizenship in voting. Less well understood, however, is how these fights involve questions of voter eligibility – a topic that has many different components, each of which presents challenges for voters and election officials alike. This short online course will seek to help deepen the student’s understanding of current controversies by providing a deeper background on the issue.

More specifically, here are the topics covered in the course:

1. The basic components of eligibility – both personal to the individual and those related to residence, including the issue of domicile.

2. Efforts to require proof of eligibility, including both the history of such requirements as well as limits established by the courts.

3. Looking ahead to new developments in the field and the challenges and opportunities they present.

The fee for the course is $25 and registration is available at http://z.umn.edu/votereligibilityclass.

The course is designed to enable students to test their knowledge of different concepts, and will also include the ability to provide feedback and engage in dialogue with the instructor (me) on topics of interest. Your comments and suggestions will help us continue to make the course better over time.

We are, as you can imagine, very excited about what the launch of this course means for the program – and, in the long term, the field of election administration.

Please take a look at the course and don’t hesitate to share the registration link with friends and colleagues inside and outside of the election field.

Thanks to everyone at the University of Minnesota (and a few friends in the election community) for their help and encouragement in making this course a reality and for their shared commitment to the Election Academy’s mission to “identify, recruit and train the next generation of election administrators.”