Dear Colleagues,



We are pleased to issue a call for papers for the 2018 Election Sciences, Reform, and Administration (ESRA) conference. The conference will take place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on July 26-27, 2018.



David Kimball of the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Jan Leighley of American University are the program chairs. The host committee at the University of Wisconsin is comprised of Barry Burden, David Canon, Kenneth Mayer, and Donald Moynihan.



The first goal of the conference is to provide a forum for scholars in political science, public administration, and other fields who are working to develop rigorous empirical approaches to the study of how laws and administrative procedures affect the quality of elections in the United States. The second goal to build scientific capacity by identifying major questions in the field, fostering collaboration, and facilitating a network of senior scholars, junior scholars, and election professionals.



We are particularly interested in innovative projects that address ongoing questions about the impact of election reforms on registration and turnout at the state and federal level, how the voter experience has been affected by recent waves of election reform, and how concerns about cost and security are shaping election administration.



Papers will be favored that are methodologically rigorous but also have practical implications for election officials. To help disseminate the findings to a wider audience, each presenter will be required to write a two-page brief summarizing their paper that can be posted on the ESRA web site.



Paper proposals of no more than 250 words should be submitted by February 28, 2018. Submit proposals using the application form available at esra.wisc.edu. Decisions are proposals are expected in April.



Those who are interested in participating in the conference without presenting a paper should email [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> by April 15 with their request.



Funding to support the conference is provided by the MIT Election Data and Science Lab<electionlab.mit.edu> as well as the Elections Research Center<elections.wisc.edu> at the University of Wisconsin. The conference has no registration fee for those who are accepted to attend. We hope to cover most of the travel, lodging, and meal expenses of most of the participants, pending notification from other funding sources.



Any questions can be sent to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>, and [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>.







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Barry C. Burden
Professor, Department of Political Science
Director, Elections Research Center (elections.wisc.edu)
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Web site: faculty.polisci.wisc.edu/bcburden
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