Voting

Gearing Up for the Election, the Political Science Way

by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University It’s election time! This means plenty of excitement and trepidation. Some of it is valid, according to Political Science. Much of it is not. How can we use the tools of our discipline to separate the analysis from the…


Update: Restrictive New Voting Laws in the States

by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University In 2022, my colleagues and I published our book Much Sound a Fury or the New Jim Crow? The Twenty First Century’s Restrictive New Voting Laws in the States, with SUNY Press.  The project began when we met and formed a…


U.S. States are Trying Political Scientist-Approved Voting Reforms. How's It Going?

by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Most U.S. elections use plurality voting, in which the single candidate winning the most votes is elected, even if they fall short of a majority.  If the election is partisan, chances are that the finalists were chosen in…