Making the Election System Work for Military and Overseas Voters
Problems arise for military and civilian overseas voting at every step of the process, from maintaining accurate registration rolls for a highly mobile population, to casting ballots and ensuring the...
View ArticleEarly and Absentee Voting Erode Election Day Tradition
Polling day at the court house may be a revered institution of American democracy, but it's one that is steadily fading away.
View ArticleMoving Toward a Better Election System for Military and Overseas Voters
The Pew Center on the States’ Military and Overseas Citizen Voting Initiative aims to remove the obstacles facing military personnel and citizens living abroad to ensure they can exercise their right...
View ArticleRear Admiral [Ret.] James J. Carey: Military & Overseas Voting
Rear Admiral [Ret.] James J. Carey worked with Pew as a senior advisor to push for state reforms that would extend the reach of the MOVE Act to state and local elections. As a Navy flag officer with 33...
View ArticleBeing Online Is Still Not Enough
This 2011 report provided state-by-state reviews and analysis based on detailed criteria of election websites for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
View ArticleNew Report Evaluates State Election Websites
A new report from the Pew Center on the States finds that many states have improved their election sites since 2008, but there are still missed opportunities to better help and inform voters online....
View ArticlePrimaries Dispatch: Thousands of Military and Overseas Ballots Already Cast...
With primaries fast approaching, election officials in South Carolina, Florida, and Missouri have been busy sending ballots to military and overseas voters, as required by the Uniformed and Overseas...
View ArticleProvisional Ballots in Ohio, Part 2
A previous data dispatch examined the number of provisional ballots cast and counted in Ohio in 2009 and 2011. Data recently released from the state’s March 2012 primary sheds more light on the process...
View ArticlePennington County, South Dakota Election Costs
In Pennington County, South Dakota, election costs rose between 2010 and 2012. The change in cost, a jump from $6.21 per vote in a 2010 election to $7.10 per vote in the 2012 June election, may be...
View ArticleMichigan Military and Overseas Voters
Of Michigan’s 1,533 townships and cities, 70 missed the federal and state deadline to mail absentee ballots to military and overseas voters for the August 7 primary. An additional 215 townships and...
View ArticleCalifornia Vote by Mail
As noted in previous dispatches, a number of states have seen a rise in voters casting ballots before Election Day. California is no exception.
View ArticleElection Data Dispatches
Election Data Dispatches provides data, research and analysis about election administration in the U.S.
View ArticleFederal Court Reinstates Early Voting in Ohio
Ohio counties can keep polls open for early voting the three days before Election Day, a federal appeals court ruled Friday, handing Democrats another victory in their battle to undo new restrictions...
View ArticleAfter Election Day Confusion, Hawaii Gov Pushes Full Mail-In Voting
On the heels of an Election Day plagued by long lines and mass confusion, Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie says he’s pushing for major changes to voting on the islands —mainly, the elimination of the...
View ArticleDemocracy From Afar
Four key reforms that states and the District of Columbia have implemented to help military and overseas voters cast timely ballots.
View ArticleAbsentee Voting in Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County, Florida’s largest election jurisdiction, which attracted attention on Election Day for long wait times at the polls, also experienced a dramatic rise in the number of absentee voters...
View ArticleEarly Voting in Clark County, Nevada
In Clark County, Nevada, as in a growing number of jurisdictions across the country, the notion of Election Day as a one-day event is disappearing.
View ArticleEarly Voting in Maryland
After passing legislation in 2009 allowing early voting, Maryland has had three elections where voters have been able to cast ballots during a six-day period prior to Election Day.
View ArticleNotable Counties—Cuyahoga County, Ohio
A vast amount of elections data can be found at the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Board of Elections website, through its detailed post-election certification and audit reports.
View ArticleEarly Voting Predictions for 2012
The 2012 general election will see the highest number ever of votes cast before Election Day according to estimates by Michael McDonald, political scientist at George Mason University.
View ArticleEarly Voting in Battleground States
Earlier today, we provided an update on the millions of voters across the country who cast their ballots before Election Day. A look at data from certain battleground states finds significant use of...
View ArticleMeasuring State Elections Performance
The Elections Performance Index is the first-ever comprehensive assessment of election administration in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
View ArticleEarly Voting in Tennessee
In 1994 Tennessee became one of the first states to allow in-person early voting. And like other states, Tennessee has seen the number of voters casting ballots before Election Day increase...
View ArticleLong Lines at the Polls in Fairfax County, VA
A recently released report from the Bipartisan Election Process Improvement Commission of Fairfax County, VA, identified several reasons voters faced long lines at the polls during last November’s...
View ArticleFewer Minnesota Absentee Ballots Rejected in 2012 Election
A recent report from the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of the State found that even though more than twice as many absentee ballots were cast in 2012 than in 2010, fewer were rejected in last...
View Article2012 Absentee Voting Rates in Mississippi Vary by County
A 2012 post-election report by the Mississippi secretary of state’s office shows that statewide, 1,285,584 ballots were cast in last year’s presidential election. Of those ballots, 106,722, or 8.3...
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—Ohio
In the 2012 presidential election, approximately one-third of the more than 5.6 million ballots cast in Ohio were cast before Election Day, surpassing early vote totals for 2008, when almost 30 percent...
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—District of Columbia
As noted previously, the District of Columbia had a significant increase in the use of provisional ballots in 2012, due in part to the introduction of Election Day registration. In the District, all...
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—Maryland
Like the District of Columbia, Maryland had early voting in place for the first time during a presidential election, and more than 1 in 5 voters cast their ballots before Election Day. In 2008, with...
View ArticleOnline Lookup Tools For Voters 2012
How do voters find the information they need on and before Election Day? Third in a series of reports on this subject, Pew outlines which online election tools are made available for voters in all 50...
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—California
In November 2012, more than 1 million provisional ballots were issued in California, the most ever by any state. This was more than 8 percent of all ballots cast in the state. More than 175,000 of...
View ArticleEarly Voting in the 2012 General Election
A growing number of voters don’t wait until Election Day to vote at their polling places.
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—Colorado
More than 80 percent of all voters in Colorado cast their ballots early in last year’s general election, and most did so by mail.
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—Florida
During the November presidential election, the spotlight was again on Florida’s election procedures, as reports of voters waiting more than seven hours to cast a ballot quickly became national news.
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—Virginia
The number of domestic absentee ballots rejected in Virginia declined from 2008 to 2012. Of the approximately 423,000 absentee ballots cast in 2012, 2,278, or 0.5 percent, were rejected. In 2008, the...
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—Louisiana
In November 2012, Louisiana voters cast 315,029 ballots during the weeklong in-person early voting period, which accounted for 16 percent of all ballots cast. This is a 25 percent increase from 2008,...
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—New Mexico
More than half of New Mexico voters cast early in-person or mail-in absentee ballots during the 2012 general election. The state allows no-excuse absentee voting by mail or in person at the county...
View Article2012 Election Snapshot — Utah Voters Increase Their Use of Absentee Ballots...
The use of absentee ballots In Utah was considerably higher in the 2012 presidential election than in 2008. In 2012, Utah transmitted 242,393 absentee ballots to voters, a substantial increase from the...
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—Texas
Texas reported that only 860 people voted early in the 2012 presidential election—0.01 percent of the total ballots cast in the state—according to a survey.
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—Massachusetts
Massachusetts allows absentee voting only under limited circumstances, such as illness or travel. In the 2012 presidential election, 92 percent of the 3.2 million voters who cast ballots in the state...
View ArticlePolling Demonstrates Inconsistent Public Knowledge About Election Policy
Polling conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and the Mellman Group for The Pew Charitable Trusts indicates that many voters are not well-informed about election policies.
View ArticleManaging Absentee Ballot Requests in Miami-Dade County, FL
The Miami-Dade County, FL elections department has partnered with its software vendor to make it easier for staff to review online requests for absentee ballots, improving security against potential...
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—Oregon
Oregon has exclusively used vote-by-mail since 1998. To guide this process, the state developed a lengthy procedures manual for how counties should handle these ballots, including details on verifying...
View Article2012 Election Snapshot—Tennessee
In 2012, 57 percent of Tennessee's ballots were cast in person before Election Day.
View ArticlePolicy Recommendations to Improve California’s Vote-by-Mail Process
The Public Policy Institute of California has issued a report on the effect of various election reforms on state voters.
View ArticleDenver Voters Choose Drop Boxes Over Postal Service to Return Mail Ballots
Data from the November 2013 election show that Denver issued 364,318 mail ballots and that a majority of returned ballots were dropped at a voter service and polling center or a ballot drop box, rather...
View ArticleCalifornia Mail Voting Rates Show Differences by Age and Region
According to new research from the California Civic Engagement Project, the state’s youngest voters and residents of Los Angeles County were least likely to use mail voting, while seniors were most...
View ArticleProcessing Late Absentee Ballots in Iowa
Iowa law requires that absentee ballots received after Election Day be postmarked at least one day before Election Day.
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