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Practice-Oriented Research

Improving Voter Registration + List Maintenance

We are delighted to announce 10 new grants aimed at expanding the field of available research on voter registration and list maintenance. These grants center partnerships between researchers and practitioners and are focused on actionable results, as part of our ongoing efforts to champion best practices in research while ensuring practitioners have the tools they need to best serve their communities.

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New Research

Results that Matter: Building Trust in Elections

Equipping election officials with resources and information to build trust among the electorate and bolster trustworthy practices.

Research-Practice Partnerships

Mathematical tools, including a compass, a protractor, and a compass, lie on a wooden table on top of paper maps.

Mapping Election Administration + Election Science

Assessing the current state of knowledge and practice in election administration.

Defining Issues

Studying Voters' Experiences

Survey of the Performance of American Elections

The Survey of the Performance of American Elections is the only national survey of registered voters that is focused on understanding the voting process from the perspective of the voter. It was begun in 2008 and repeated in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2024. Access the dataset and latest reports here.

Research + Data

Apr 5, 2023

Subscribe to the MEDSL Newsletter

Have you subscribed to our newsletter yet? The next quarterly installment will go out later this month; click through to keep up-to-date on resources, new data, events, and interesting research from scholars and election officials.

By applying scientific principles to how elections are studied and administered, MEDSL aims to improve the democratic experience for all U.S. voters.

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Explore

Research Projects

Using data-driven scientific analysis, we strive to better understand how elections function in the U.S. Read more about our core research, and keep up to date with our newest projects.

Learn more about our research

Our Data

Our lab is a clearinghouse for data sets that can fuel studies on elections and how they're conducted. Here you'll find our portal for election data and research tools produced by us and others.

Peruse our data, tools, and resources