David C. Kimball

Examines appointments to municipal boards and commissions in Missouri and finds that women and people of color are underrepresented broadly on local boards and commissions. The gender disparity in appointments is especially pronounced for leadership positions and for “power boards” that influence public policy and the allocation of resources.

Uses several opinion surveys to find that a majority of white Americans believe that most illegal voters are immigrants or people of color, and that whites are a relatively small portion of the perpetrators of voter fraud. These stereotypes are strongly associated with beliefs about voter fraud, support for restrictive election policies, and harsh punishment of illegal voting.

Focuses on the more than 8,000 local elections administrators in counties, municipalities, and townships who largely manage the key administrative processes of elections, work with campaigns and candidates, design voting materials and choose voting equipment, staff Early and Election Day polling locations, and communicate with and educate voters.

Demonstrates that source cues (such as prominent politicians or interest groups) can move public support for some policies, however, most of the research on source cues in the United States tests the impact of national leaders or parties as cues. Argues that hypotheses about source cues should be tested in other settings, such as local politics.

Examines the role of local election officials (LEO) as implementers of state election reforms. Derives that data comes from a survey of municipal clerks in Maine conducted after the 2018 general election, as well as interviews with many local officials, garnering their assessments of ranked choice voting (RCV).

Examines the long- and short-campaign forces and their effects on the error variance in models of presidential voting decisions.

Details how thousands of local governments are responsible for administering elections in the United States. There are substantial differences in the way local jurisdictions administer elections, and most voting problems occur disproportionately in a relatively small number of heavily populated cities and counties.

Gives an assessment of efforts to improve the administration of elections in the United States over the last decade. While the adoption of new voting equipment has reduced voting errors, many other problems remain unaddressed.

Shows how the issues pursued by interest group lobbyists in Washington bear little resemblance to the issues the public cares about most.

Presents a large-scale study of interest group lobbying in Washington and argues that the advantages of entrenched interests in Washington produce a strong bias in favor of existing policies. As a result, lobbying resources are at best a weak predictor of changes in public policy.