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Series:   Elements in Campaigns and Elections

A Republic If You Can Afford It

How Much Does it Cost to Administer Elections?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2024

Zachary Mohr ,
Martha Kropf ,
Mary Jo McGowan  and
JoEllen Pope
Zachary Mohr
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Martha Kropf
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Mary Jo McGowan
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Summary

The cost of administering elections is an importantly understudied area in election science. This book reports election costs in 48 out of 50 states. It discusses the challenges and opportunities of collecting local election costs. The book then presents the wide variation in cost across the country with the lowest spending states spending a little over $2 per voter and the highest spending almost $20 per voter. The amounts being spent in the state are also examined over the election time period of 2008 – 2016. Economic events like the Great Recession had predictable effects on lowering spending on elections but the patterns are not the same across the different regions of the country. The relationship between spending and election administration outcomes is also explored and finds that the voters' confidence and perceptions of fraud in elections is associated with the amount spent on election administration.
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Keywords

election administrationelection fraudelection confidenceelection costselections
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Campaigns and Elections
Online ISBN: 9781009339452
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 19 December 2024

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