Election Admin and Redistricting

Moving the electoral goalposts: State and local strategies of electoral intervention in the U.S.

Central to the partisan divide in American politics is disagreement over the fundamental legitimacy of American elections. Due to the decentralized nature of election administration in the US, these disagreements have led to a complex web of heterogeneous electoral institutions. Scholars have made impressive progress on untangling the effects of these different institutions — unfortunately, less is known about the sources of adoption of such proposals. Using time-series cross-sectional data on the adoption of various electoral policies by state governments from 2001–2018, I examine the role of politics and identity in shaping the types of electoral interventions adopted by state legislatures during an important period of increasing politicization of such interventions. Applying dynamic panel models and constructing a novel measure of the concentration of Black population within competitive congressional districts, I find that the effects of race, competition, and ideology on electoral interventions differ across both partisan lines and issue areas.

Author: Galen Sheely

Which states adopt election subversion policies?

Research highlights a growing divergence among U.S. states in their costs of voting, the partisan balance of their legislative districts, and the responsiveness of state policy to public opinion. Less is known, however, about a new and acute threat to democracy at the state level: policies that increase the states’ vulnerability to election subversion. In this article, we investigate recent trends in state legislation that transfer election administration authority from independent to partisan actors, making it more likely that a losing presidential candidate could take office over the will of the electorate. We find that Republican control of state legislatures and the closeness of the 2020 presidential election are associated with these policies. Interestingly, these policies are mostly uncorrelated with gerrymandering and voter suppression policies that were enacted in the 2010s. We conclude with a discussion of how a recent Electoral Count Act reform in Congress partly mitigates the risk of election subversion.

Authors: Jake Grumbach and Charlotte Hill

The state of electoral democracy in California

As a racially, economically, linguistically, and geographically diverse state facing challenges from climate change to housing and homelessness, California has emerged as a bellwether for the future of American democracy. The state serves as a compelling case for understanding broader dynamics in American democracy. Over the past decade, voters and policymakers have taken deliberate steps to expand voting access and engage citizens in decision-making processes, such as through citizens-initiatives. The outcome of these efforts are reflected in this report and in the state’s improved democratic performance since the 2000s, as measured by the State Democracy Index.

Authors: Jake Grumbach and Francesca Bitton