Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT
A great deal of research has examined how and why individuals vote in the United States. Yet, due to increased accusations of fraudulent electoral practices, more research is needed to explore the role of streetlevel bureaucrats or front-line actors in the administration of elections. The purpose of this research is to examine a different perspective of electoral processes - public perceptions of county level election administration. We conducted a telephone survey of 605 randomly selected registered voters from Missoula County, Montana to develop an index documenting public confidence in elections administration. The results provide strong support for the important role county level election administrators' play in shaping and strengthening the future of electoral processes for their communities and states more broadly.
In an era of partisan politics, a great deal of research has investigated how and why individuals vote (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1948; Downs, 1957; Campbell, Converse, Miller, & Stokes, 1960; Key, 1966). Although this research is noteworthy, it negates the importance of the multitude of actors who implement US election laws - election administrators. Put simply, "If elections are the bedrock of our American democracy, election administrators are our masons" (Benson, 2008, p. 343-344). Local election administrators are responsible for conducting the "nuts and bolts" of elections within the framework of various state and federal laws (Kimball & Kropf, 2006). These tasks may include the recruitment and training of elections personnel, the acquisition and maintenance of voting technology, the establishment of election precincts, and the creation and distribution of election ballots (General Accounting Office, 2001).
Despite their importance in the implementation and administration of U.S. elections, these individuals are often overlooked in the study of U.S. electoral processes more broadly. We know from implementation scholarship (c.f. Bardach, 1978; Pressman & Wildavsky, 1984) and front-line worker literature (c.f. Lipsky, 1980; Sandfort, 2000; Maynard-Moody & Musheno 2003; Riccucci, 2005) local election officials are most often the individuals responsible for the execution of policy, and therefore, its success or failure. Scholars (Hale & Slaton, 2008; Moynihan & Silva, 2008; Hall, Monson, & Patterson, 2009; Burden, Canon, Mayer, Moynihan, & Neiheisel, 2017) have considered the role of elections administrators in engendering trust in elections, and therefore American democracy; however, little focused study has considered the...