Data For Democracy

High-quality data is a foundation for any meaningful effort to understand and improve the functioning of the American election system.  A lack of elections data has often left policy makers and election officials without the tools necessary to assess successes and failures in the field. When data is available, it is often limited in scope and usability. With numerous changes to elections since 2002 – and a growing focus on the administration rather than only the outcome of elections – the focus on data collection efforts has been steadily increasing.

The Pew Center on the States recognizes that creating a culture of evidence- based election administration requires better data collection.  Our Election Initiatives’ Data for Democracy project grew out of a Pew Center on the States and JEHT Foundation-sponsored conference, which assembled a broad set of stakeholders with the expertise to discuss the importance and challenges of prioritizing, collecting and applying elections data to provide and improve information for the public on election performance and management. 

The conference led to a published compendium titled Data for Democracy: Improving Elections through Metrics and Measurement that highlights states that do a robust job of collecting and reporting data, examines challenges faced in data collection in the field and assesses the diversity of data and data collection mechanisms among local governments. It also includes essays by national experts in voter registration, election technology, election administration and election reform, laying out an ambitious agenda for the future efforts in the field.

Through these efforts and continuing to coordinate data collection efforts and research by national experts, Pew strives to advance the study of election information and provide helpful insight for policy makers, election officials, academics and other stakeholders as they consider and examine solutions to improve the election system.