Justin Jang
Pronouns:
Research Mentor(s): Phoebe Henninger
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Political Science / LSA
Program:
Authors: Justin Jang, Phoebe Henninger
Session: Session 2: 10:00 am – 10:50 am
Poster: 73
Abstract
In most democracies worldwide, the officials who manage elections are those from independent bodies or non-partisan civil servants. However, elections in the United States are primarily run by elected partisans or political appointees. Reformers have called for a shift to a nonpartisan elections, citing the potential biases that may arise from having a partisan-managed election. Yet, there is still a large gap in empirical analysis of how exactly partisanship plays into elections and how this affects public perceptions. This study is made up of examining public perceptions by analyzing and coding existing survey data, administrative data, and a survey experiment to find the causal relationship between partisan election administration and public trust in elections. Survey responses were analyzed and assigned descriptive codes on various expressed perceptions of partisanship in elections. Furthermore, preexisting datasets compiled by Kimball and Kropf (2001), and expanded upon by White et al (2012), on partisan election administration were updated and coded using data from published election records to provide an extensive dataset that shows how exactly partisanship interacts in county-level election administration. Although results are not yet cemented due to ongoing progress, the implications of these analyses will provide the first comprehensive local-level empirical description of partisan election structures, the necessary empirical evidence to understand perceptions of partisan bias in elections, and an analytical basis for the discussion of election reform.
