Publication Type: Paper/Poster Proposal
Abstract: Through a series of web-based studies conducted in 2000 and 2004, we examined the efficacy of a variety of vote intention measures. Specifically, in 5 primary elections in 2000 (NH, CA, OH, GA, NY), in the 2000 general election, and in the 2004 general election we examined numerous variants of vote likelihood. In all studies we recontacted respondents within a few days of the election to determine whether or not they voted. Some vote intention measures appeared to be superior to others and we discuss the implications for determining appropriate likely voter models in pre-election polls.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper looks at the impact of changing voting technology on intended and unintended consequences measured through different forms of voting behavior.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Over the past decade, there has been much talk in the media about 'red' and 'blue' states; states that are electorally uncompetitive in presidential elections. Even with recent efforts to create national standards for voting machinery and personnel, states still have variations in their voting patterns. This paper seeks to determine what role this electoral competitiveness or uncompetitiveness, as the case may be, plays in making a state's voters choose to vote absentee. Using state by state election data from the 2000, 2004. amd 2008 presidential elections, this paper seeks to determine what role electoral competition, the relative strengths of the two major parties in each of the fifty states, and the states' political culture contribute in the variation in states' numbers of absentee voters.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Most Latin American countries require that their citizens vote. However, there are exceptions, such as Colombia. This paper examines compulsory voting in Latin American and begins to examine why Colombia has remained an exception to the general rule of compulsory voting in the region.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The number and type of problems experienced in the 2000 presidential election, especially in Florida, initiated a period of shifts toward new technology in order to remedy many of them. This paper presents an interim report on whether intended improvements occurred by the 2004 presidential election, based upon the analysis of two case studies. In Florida, there have been significant changes in voting technology in this period, as county officials made their own decisions about what new equipment to buy. This state represents a “many to many” approach to applying new voting technology. In Michigan, there is a movement toward a single type of new technology (optically scanned ballots). This state represents a “many to few” approach to applying new voting technology. The analysis of voting behavior, performed cross-sectionally and over time in terms of places that did or did not change their technology, shows considerable improvement in both states, measured as a reduction in residual votes, with little impact on patterns of “roll off,” party loyalty, or straight and split-ticket voting. The analysis also suggests that residual voting was repeated between 2000 and 2004, and it may have had a partisan bias that resulted in more Democratic than Republican votes lost. The use of new technology is reducing that difference, although better data are needed to assess whether the changes differ by specific components such as overvotes, undervotes, or blank ballots. The approach used in this paper is model for additional research in other locations, as it sets out appropriate measures of key concepts and their measurement, discusses the strengths and weaknesses of available data sources, and applies new statistical methods. Additional work should be devoted to comparisons of optical scan (OS) and direct recording electronic (DRE) machines as they become the dominant voting technologies, and attention should be devoted to analysis of specific models of machines for the impact of their unique features.