As you might have seen, last week we published our latest research, The 50 State Post-Vote Guide: How We Count, Canvass, Certify, and Audit Our Elections.
We’re thrilled that partners and press are finding this a valuable tool to better understand post-vote processes across the country. As folks continue to dig into this research, we wanted to answer a few recurring questions that have popped up.
Who is this research for?
We hope anyone who has an interest in upholding democracy finds this research valuable, but in particular, we think it’s most useful to:
Advocates and Policymakers: For partners working on topics like ECRA compliance or working on updating pre-canvassing rules. This resource can be a helpful comparison guide to see how states differ in their approach to post-vote processes. (And we’ll be sharing more comparative analysis coming soon!)
Litigators: For lawyers, especially those working to make sure the post-vote periods follow the letter and intent of the law. We think this guide can serve as a jumping-off point for further research and a shortcut for finding key sources.
Reporters: For those reporting on this election, this guide can be a reliable resource for understanding key systems and processes in the post-vote period and when they take place to inform accurate, responsible reporting.
The General Public: Better understand your state's processes and fight back against misinformation. Our hope in sharing this information is to build more trust in these systems to combat election denialism.
Is this research exhaustive?
Definitely not — and it’s not the extent of Informing Democracy’s research this cycle, either! This guide is a starting point for partners, as well as for our own research.
This year, we’ll be releasing in-depth reports on the post-vote processes and the officials overseeing those processes in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, as well as updating our Virginia research that was released last year. We also have Texas, Florida, and Ohio on our radar for potential expansion states this year.
In addition to understanding post-vote processes, we’ll also be assessing the local officials who administer our elections and identifying any threat concerns. Read more about our initial findings and the themes we’re monitoring here.
Are you planning to share additional analysis from this research?
Absolutely! Right now, we’re working on developing calendars to visualize these post-vote processes in each state, as well as high-level cross-state calendars. (Stay tuned for those very soon!)
Additionally, we’re digging into the common trends, patterns, and anomalies across states in post-vote processes. We’re also interested in cataloging the language used to talk about these post-vote steps to help create common and shared definitions and vocabulary.
And we’re also open to ideas of what would be most helpful to you all! If there are additional topics you’d like to see analyzed, please let us know. You can reply directly to this email or send a note to info@informingdemocracy.org.
We hope these FAQs are useful. If you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch. And as a reminder, if you’d like to access the full 50 State Post-Vote Guide database, please request access here.
Thank you and more soon,
The Informing Democracy Team