Get out the vote: Understanding ranked-choice elections
An explainer on proportional representation, with a focus on ranked-choice voting.
Elections
Tip sheets, explainers and research roundups to inform coverage of elections
Expert Commentary
Voter fraud, perceptions and political spin: Research roundup
Claims of election fraud were a prominent feature in the 2016 campaign of President Donald Trump. He repeatedly warned that the election would be “stolen” from him. We look at the research and find fraud is more often spin than fact.
Expert Commentary
Claiming credit for foreign aid helps politicians hold power
Politicians in developing democracies appear more likely to win reelection if they claim to have secured foreign aid, even if they had nothing to do with it.
Expert Commentary
Combat deaths and voter turnout: Public opinion in democracies at war
People with little interest in politics vote more during violent wars, a 2016 study in the American Journal of Political Science finds. Overall, people vote less if there have been few recent war deaths.
Expert Commentary
Gender quotas: Do they increase the number of women in politics, party leadership positions?
2016 study in the American Political Science Review that examines how gender quotas influence women’s selection to and ability to maintain top political posts.
Expert Commentary
How using search engines impacts voter decisions
In this 2015 study, researchers describe a “search engine manipulation effect” and determine what populations are most vulnerable to being influenced with regards to voting decisions.
Expert Commentary