Conference: Election Science, Research, and Administration

University Of North Carolina At Charlotte, Charlotte NC

Investigators

Abstract

Election scientists utilize social science theory to understand how elections operate and how citizens perceive them. The central goal of this conference is to build basic research capacity in election science, an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that focuses on the study of election administration and election conduct. The conference will bring together election scholars, election practitioners, and local election-level experts to discuss and disseminate electoral science research. The inclusion of election administrators allows interaction between science, policy, and policymakers. Another goal of the conference will be to continue to diversify the election science field. Election scientists utilize social science theory to understand how elections operate and how citizens perceive them. Elections are administered at the state and local levels, which provides fertile ground to test theories such as rational choice, principal-agent, and representative bureaucracy. The conference will bring together election scholars, election practitioners, and local election-level experts to discuss and disseminate electoral science research. The scholars will use the interactions of the conference to generate new research questions, improve theories, and improve research designs. Broader Impacts of the conference include clear policy implications for election practitioners. The inclusion of practitioners in the conference increases the likelihood that science of elections will be incorporated into the administration of elections more generally. The project includes a clear plan for inclusion of women and under-representative groups. Additionally, undergraduate students are incorporated into conference activities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.