Student Research Internships

Assessing Precinct Accessibility and Quality

Project Guide

How often do undergraduates get the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to cutting-edge, socially relevant research - and earn course credit in the process? On March 2nd you will have that opportunity.

You and a partner will visit a pre-assigned list of polling places and assess how easy they are to find and use. The information you collect will help answer crucial questions about the practice of democracy in Los Angeles, one of America's most diverse cities. You will be contributing to cutting-edge research because no systematic data exists on the quality and accessibility of polling places.

Policy makers, civil rights groups, and the media are interested to learn what you and your classmates uncover. Your work is important because this study could have wide-ranging impacts on the design of future election procedures.

This research will challenge you on several levels. You will be required to visit polling places in neighborhoods with which you are unfamiliar. You will be required to collect reliable data about a subject that might be new to you. You will be required to interact with poll workers, some friendly and cooperative and others suspicious or even hostile. On the whole, however, this project will be extremely rewarding. Here are some comments from other LMU students who participated in this study during the previous two elections:

· "I think this was a great study. The more polling places that I went to, the more I understood the importance of the project."
· "My hope is that this study is used as an instrument of change for social justice and does not fall upon deaf ears. I was really not aware of some of these problems until after this project."
· "It's exciting being a part of a project that could not only affect legislation but also the empowerment of disenfranchised groups."
· "I learned a lot from this experience and would do it again."

This project guide is intended to help prepare you for your work on March 2nd and in your class assignment. Please read it carefully to familiarize yourself with:

· A brief overview of some relevant academic literature;
· An overview of your activities on March 2nd;
· A letter to requesting that your other professors excuse your absence on March 2nd;
· A draft of the checklist you will complete when you visit polling places on March 2nd;
· An overview of how you are going to use the data; and
· Basic findings of the two previous rounds of this study conducted by LMU students in the March 2003 and October 2003 elections.


Relevant Literature
By connecting citizens with government, the act of voting is central to the functioning of representative democracy. Political scientists have long lamented that systematic biases in voter turnout translate into unequal political influence. (Lijphart 1997; Verba 1996) Nearly four decades after passage of the Voting Rights Act, clogged voting machines, defective punch cards, and inconsistent standards for addressing problems in Florida's 2000 presidential election again cast doubt on whether all citizens enjoy equal access to the ballot box. Some civil rights groups claimed that African American voters in Florida counties had faced long lines and harassment by election officials. Irregularities were also reported in other states, including misplaced ballots, broken voting machines, and improper purging of from voting lists. (Burns et al., 2002; Ginsberg et al., 2003)

It is well established that the costs associated with voting are not evenly distributed across the electorate and that voting rates decrease as the costs of voting increase. (Downs 1957; Riker and Ordeshook 1968) Most studies of this relationship have focused on the impediments caused by registration laws, the costs of gathering information, and the cost of driving long distances to the polls. (Downs 1957; Gimpel and Schuknecht n.d.; Wolfinger and Rosenstone 1980; Squire, Wolfinger, and Glass 1987)

With the exception of studies focusing on confusing ballots, (Darcy and Schneider 1989; Niemi and Herrnson 2003; Wand et al., 2001) very few studies of the costs associated with voting have focused directly on the act of voting itself. It is not known if potential voters give up if their precinct location changes from one year to the next, is difficult to locate or is not easily accessible, or lacks adequate facilities or services. In addition, it is not known if voting precincts in predominantly low-income and non-White neighborhoods are less visible, less stable, harder to find, and more difficult to navigate than voting precincts in predominantly high-income and White neighborhoods. Furthermore, it is not known if variation in the quality of polling places impacts voter turnout.


What to Expect on March 2nd
By participating in this research project, you are making an important contribution in the search for answers to these questions. Armed with checklists, clipboards, disposable cameras, and street maps, you and a partner will visit 20-25 precincts across Los Angeles to assess the quality and accessibility of polling places in the March 2nd primary elections.

At a mandatory training session to be held one evening in mid-February, students will be divided into pairs and assigned approximately twenty-five polling precincts randomly selected and grouped by geographic proximity. Be sure you or your partner has a car because each team is strongly encouraged to visit a minimum of twenty precincts on Election Day.

At the February training session, you will be provided with detailed instructions about how to complete the checklists, what to document with the disposable cameras, and advice about how to dress and comport yourself at the polling places.

Prior to March 2nd, you should study a map and consult Mapquest or Yahoo Maps to plan your driving route for the day. Because you will be visiting a large number of precincts, you will want to have an efficient route selected in advance.

At a mandatory 8:00 a.m. meeting on March 2nd, students will receive checklists for recording the quality and accessibility of polling places. These checklists contain criteria to qualify a polling place as more or less accessible and "voter-friendly." Designed to be quick and easy to complete, the checklists will be printed on one two-sided sheet of paper. Questions are concise, and possible answers are formatted as boxes to be checked-off. Blank spaces are also included for you to record your impressions and observations.

You will also be given a disposable camera. Each team must snap a picture of each polling place visited that documents a "best" or "worst" practice. For example, if there is an American flag prominently displayed outside the facility that readily identifies it as a polling place, you might take a picture of that. Alternatively, if you encounter roadwork in front of a polling place that might discourage potential voters, you might snap a picture of road barricades.

When you are out on Election Day, be aware that some poll workers and even some voters might accuse you of "electioneering" or might be concerned that you are official monitors employed by the state or county. If necessary, you should explain that you are a college student working on a term paper about democracy. It would be a good idea to wear an LMU sweatshirt or something else that identifies you as a college student.

When you have assessed a minimum of 20 polling places, you should drop off your completed checklists, cameras, clipboards, and maps at the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, located in Suite 4100 in University Hall (near Political Science). To receive credit for the assignment, each student must sign in and fill out a short questionnaire about the experience.


Conflicts With Classes on March 2nd
In the event that you have classes that conflict with your participation on March 2nd , you should provide your professors with a copy of the attached letter. The letter summarizes the objective of the study and explains your role in it.

You must request your professors' advance permission to excuse your absence on March 2nd and make advance arrangements to make up for missed work.

In the event that your other professors do not consent to excuse your absence on Election Day, you must discuss this immediately with your professor for this class.


Draft Checklist for Data Collection on March 2nd
Please see the following page for a draft of the checklist you will use for each polling place. Detailed instructions for completing the checklist will be discussed at the training session in February. You will be provided with 25 copies of the final checklist at the 8:00 am meeting on March 2nd.
Using the Data for Class Assignments

Your professor will provide specific instructions for how you are to incorporate your experiences in the field on March 2nd and the data for your class assignment. In previous rounds of this study, professors have assigned papers requiring students to:

· Research the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965;
· Discuss their observations in the field on March 2nd ;
· Analyze the aggregate data in terms of how easy polling places were to find, how easy and comfortable they were to use, and whether there were any barriers to voting; and
· Draw conclusions about whether all citizens have equal access to the ballot box.


Basic Findings from Previous Rounds of the Study
Previous rounds of this study were conducted during the March 2003 citywide elections and during the October 2003 recall elections. A detailed report on the findings from the March 2003 election is available on the website for the Center for the Study of Los Angeles (www.lmu.edu/csla).

A summary of the findings from the October 2003 election is included here, along with two reports that appeared in the local media regarding the study. In one of those media reports, camera crews caught two LMU student researchers in action at one of the polls.
 
"));