I thought that I’d forward this along to readers of the Polmeth list.  



Charles Stewart, Michael Herron, and Christopher Mann are putting together a collaborative effort to study election day lines in the November US presidential election.  Over the years, I’ve taken groups of undergraduate and graduate students to polling places, and it’s a really productive exercise — it’s instructive for students to see how election administration works in the US, and to gain a firsthand understanding as to what works and what doesn’t work.   Given the scale of what is planned this fall, the study planned by Stewart, Herron and Mall will produce some potentially important research data.



Below is the email that Charles Stewart sent earlier this summer, I encourage anyone who wants to participate to contact Charles directly (though I’m happy to talk about

what is typically involved, or what might be required to mount up a polling places observation project in your area).



Mike Alvarez

Caltech



Call to Participate in a National Study of Election Day Lines in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

 

Charles Stewart III, MIT

Michael Herron, Dartmouth College

Christopher Mann, Skidmore College

 

 

We are writing to find out who might be interested in participating in a national study of Election Day lines in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. 

 

If you are interested, please read on and then respond to Charles Stewart ([log in to unmask]) to express your interest.

 

The purpose of the study is to better document the variability of voter wait times across the U.S. and to understand the factors that lead to long lines.  We plan to write up the results of the study for publication in a peer reviewed journal, but we will also use the data gathered by this study to educate the general public about the causes, costs, and remedies for long lines at the polls.

 

We envision that this project could be part of fall classes on American Politics, Campaigns and Elections, Research Methods, and many others.

 

This cooperative study is an opportunity to get students — undergraduate and graduate — involved in a meaningful way doing research about how states and localities conduct elections.  The research protocol would involve sending two-person teams of students to polling places on Election Day to record (1) the length of lines of voters waiting to check in and (2) the amount of time it takes voters to check in, cast a ballot, and scan the ballot (for jurisdictions using optically scanned ballots).

 

Studies like this have been conducted before, but not on such a national scale.  The two studies that form the basis for the protocol are described in these two journal articles:

 

·         Douglas M. Spencer and Zachary Markovits. 2010. Long lines at polling stations? Observations from an election day field study. Election Law Journal 9(1): 3–17.



·         Michael C. Herron and Daniel A. Smith. 2016. Precinct resources and voter wait times. Electoral Studies 42 (2016): 249–263.



 

If you are interested in participating, please contact Charles Stewart ([log in to unmask]) as soon as possible. 

 

At this point, a statement of interest is not equivalent to a commitment.  Once we have gathered a list of those available, the next step will be to hold a conference call to talk further about details.

 

 



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