Voter Registration and Election Laws in the United States, 1972-1992

We study grading outcomes associated with professors in an elite university in the United States who were identified—using voter registration records from the county where the university is located—as either Republicans or Democrats. The evidence suggests that student grades are linked to the political orientation of professors. Relative to their Democratic colleagues, Republican professors are associated with a less egalitarian distribution of grades and with lower grades awarded to black students relative to whites. (JEL D72, I23, J15)

Download Full-text

America in Comparative Perspective

10.1093/oso/9780190934163.003.0010 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chad Vickery ◽

Heather Szilagyi

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

House Of Representatives ◽

The United States ◽

International Standards ◽

Voter Registration ◽

Electoral Process ◽

Developing Democracies ◽

Administrative Framework ◽

The Will

Chapter 10 highlights a confluence of factors in the United States that produce a high percentage of wasted votes and a system of governance that largely fails to reflect the will of the majority of voters, widely considered a cornerstone of democracy. This study judges the fundamental integrity of key elements of the electoral process in the United States by applying the same standards used to evaluate developing democracies around the world. Several acute challenges to the U.S. electoral process are identified: boundary delimitation for the House of Representatives, the role of the Electoral College in presidential contests, processes of voter registration, and the decentralized administrative framework. The chapter concludes that despite obvious vulnerabilities, the United States is resistant to acknowledging these problems, to reform its electoral process in line with international standards, or to learn from the comparative experience of other countries that have strengthened their elections over time.

Download Full-text

“Our Voter Rolls Are Cleaner Than Yours”: Balancing Access and Integrity in Voter List Maintenance

American Politics Research ◽

10.1177/1532673x20906472 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 48 (5) ◽

pp. 560-570

Author(s):

Thessalia Merivaki

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Local Variation ◽

The United States ◽

Demographic Characteristics ◽

Voter Registration ◽

Electoral Process ◽

Election Administration ◽

History Information ◽

Registered Voter

Accurate voter lists facilitate access to the electoral process, indicate efficient voter list maintenance, and reinforce electoral integrity. Errors in voter records often result from variation in practices that are difficult to avoid given the decentralized structure of election administration in the United States. In many states, localities lack capacity to efficiently complete voter list maintenance, especially when pressured to keep “clean” voter rolls. I argue that local challenges remain when maintaining voters’ registration and voting history information, which undermines the quality of voter lists and the integrity of the electoral process. I analyze Mississippi’s Statewide Election Management System (SEMS) records and find that voter registration and voting history errors are linked to the county’s active and inactive registered voter rates and demographic characteristics. These findings confirm that local variation in voter list maintenance can impact voters depending on their voter registration status and can result in premature voter list removal.

Download Full-text