Publications
Voting Technology
Executive Orders
Today in Albany, the group Reinvent Albany, New York Public Interest Research Group, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, and Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach (CRREO) at SUNY New Paltz released their report Executive Orders: Actions the Governor can take to make New York government more open, accountable and democratic.
The report includes eleven model executive orders that Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo can use to open up New York State government, increase the accountability of state agencies and reduce barriers to voting. An executive order is a governor’s declaration which has the force of law, and does not require legislation to take effect. The orders are centered on the basic goal of empowering the citizenry with more and better information about what its government is doing, and how it is spending tax payer dollars.
Authored by: Gerald Benjamin, Blair Horner, John Kaehny, and Lawrence Norden
– 11/23/10
Voting System Failures: A Database Solution
Failed voting machines, frustrated voters and lost votes: these have been a constant in news reports following every recent major election cycle. When it comes to system failures voting machines are different from other products: for the vast majority of voting systems in use today, manufacturers are not required to report malfunctions to any government agency, and there is no agency that investigates alleged failures.
Voting systems fail in a particular county in one election, and then again later, under similar circumstances, but in a different locale. These repeated failures disenfranchise voters and damage public confidence in the electoral system. This report calls for a regulatory clearinghouse – a national database, accessible by election officials and others, that identifies voting system malfunctions.
Authored by: Lawrence Norden
– 09/13/10
Automatic Registration in the United States: The Selective Service Example
Authored by: Laura Seago
– 07/15/09
2008 & 2009 Ohio Elections Summit and Conference
After voting ended on Nov. 4, 2008, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced a bipartisan convening to study the recent election with a goal of determining what went right as well as what could be improved. This is the final report from the summit and conference.
Authored by: Lawrence Norden with Jessie Allen
– 04/08/09
2008 Ohio Elections Summit
After voting ended on Nov. 4, 2008, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced a bipartisan convening to study the recent election with a goal of determining what went right as well as what could be improved.
Authored by: Lawrence Norden with Jessie Allen
– 03/11/09
Is America Ready to Vote?
This report asks, in the face of election system problems, what procedures has each state put in place to ensure the integrity of every citizen’s vote? Put another way, in the event of voting machine problems on Election Day, how prepared is each state to ensure that every voter can vote, and that all of those votes will be counted?
– 10/16/08
Better Ballots
Eight years after the 2000 election, and billions of dollars spent on new voting technology, the problems caused by poor ballot design have not been fully and effectively addressed on a national level. Year in and year out, we see the same mistakes in ballot design, with the same results: disenfranchisement.
Authored by: Lawrence Norden, David Kimball, Whitney Quesenbery, and Margaret Chen
– 07/20/08
Post-Election Audits: Restoring Trust in Elections (Executive Summary)
Executive summary of practical recommendations put forth by the Brennan Center and Samuelson Clinic for improving post-election audits, regardless of the audit method that a jurisdiction ultimately decides to adopt.
Authored by: Lawrence Norden, Aaron Burstein, Joseph Lorenzo Hall and Margaret Chen
– 08/01/07
Post-Election Audits: Restoring Trust in Elections
With the intention of assisting legislators, election officials and the public to make sense of recent literature on post-election audits and convert it into realistic audit practices, the Brennan Center and the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at Boalt Hall School of Law (University of California Berkeley) convened a blue ribbon panel. Included are several practical recommendations for improving post-election audits, regardless of the audit method that a jurisdiction ultimately decides to adopt.
Authored by: Lawrence Norden, Aaron Burstein, Joseph Lorenzo Hall and Margaret Chen
– 08/01/07
An Agenda for Election Reform
This memorandum sets out a comprehensive election reform agenda for the 110th Congress and explains the reasons for each policy reform.
Authored by: Wendy R. Weiser and Jonah Goldman
– 03/07/07