RAPID: Collaborative Research: The Integrity of Mail Voting

鉴于新冠肺炎大流行导致邮寄投票的使用增加，调查人员将重点放在邮寄选民如何寻找、获得、完成、退回和清点邮寄选票的体验上。他们通过评估对VBM制度结构的变化、VBM过程的保密性以及VBM选民可能面临的同龄人群体的胁迫的担忧，来检查公民对使用VBM的选举的完整性的看法。调查人员使用了以州为中心的调查设计，包括在拥有VBM系统的10个州进行过抽样。超额抽样很重要，并赋予了关于州选举管理和法律的额外统计权力和影响力。样本只包括报告在2020年选举中通过邮寄投票的登记选民。调查是使用Qualtrics软件在线征集的。各州登记选民的电子邮件地址将从L2购买。调查人员完成了对40个州的200名邮寄选民的在线调查，对10个州的1000名邮寄选民的调查，以及这些州每个州的100名面对面选民的调查，总样本为2.3万人。这项研究为与邮件投票相关的选民诚信问题提供了一个基线。此外，它还确定了替代邮件投票系统在何时、何地和谁完成和退回邮件选票方面是否有所不同。该项目应向VBM政策管理的几个领域的学者和政策制定者提供信息。这项研究的结果也对增加公众对VBM选举程序的信心有价值。这项研究涉及合作研究所有三个校区的本科生研究人员。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Given the increase use of vote by mail (VBM) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the investigators focus on mail-in voters' experience with how they seek, obtain, complete, return and have their mail ballots counted. They examine citizens' perceptions about the integrity of elections using VBM by assessing concerns about variation in the institutional structures of VBM, the secrecy of VBM the process, and the coercion that VBM voters may face from their peer group. The investigators use a state-centric survey design that includes an oversample in 10 states that have a mixture of VBM systems. The oversample is important and gives additional statistical power and leverage about state election administration and laws. The sample consist of only registered voters who report voting by mail in the 2020 election. Surveys are solicited online using Qualtrics software. E-mail addresses for registered voters by state will be purchased from L2. The investigators completed 200 online surveys with mail voters in 40 states, and 1,000 with mail voters in 10 states, along with 100 in-person voters in each these states, for a total sample of 23,000. This research provides a baseline for concerns about voter integrity related to mail balloting. Furthermore, it establishes whether alternative mail voting systems differ in terms of when, where, and with whom mail ballots are completed and returned. This project should inform scholars and policy makers in several areas of VBM policy administration. Findings from the study are also valuable in increasing public confidence in VBM election procedures. The research involves undergraduate researchers at all three campuses of the collaborative study.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.