Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC)

The Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC) is a non-partisan academic research center with our research leads co-located at Portland State University and Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Led by Founder and Director Paul Gronke, PhD, and Research Director Paul Manson, PhD, EVIC searches for common sense, non-partisan solutions to identified problems in election administration backed by solid empirical evidence. EVIC’s marquee project is the annual Local Election Official (LEO) Survey that the research team has been undertaking since 2018.

https://evic.reed.edu/

Local Elected Official Surveys

September 23, 2025

The EVIC Local Election Official Survey Project

The Local Election Official (LEO) Survey project was initiated in 2018 by EVIC and has continued with 2019, 2020, 2022,…

See all articles

EVIC's Current Projects

September 23, 2025

Declining Job Satisfaction Among Local Election Administrators

Also appearing in Electionline WeeklyThe Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC) Local Election Official (LEO) Survey has been conducted annually from 2018-2024, except in 2021. This coverage over time has allowed our research team to identify trends and changes in the election official community across two midterm and two presidential election cycles.A deeper dive into job satisfaction provided in this policy brief shows a very worrisome trend – a steep and enduring decline in job satisfaction among LEOs serving in the smallest (< 5,001 registered voters) jurisdictions.…

September 23, 2025

Voter Education: Right-Sizing Funding and Support for Local Election Officials

Thessalia (Lia) Merivaki, PhD | Associate Teaching Professor, Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy | Associate Research Professor, The Massive Data Institute, Georgetown UniversityMara Suttmann-Lea, PhD | Associate Professor of American Politics, Connecticut CollegePaul Gronke, PhD | Professor of Political Science, Reed College | Founder & Director, Elections & Voting Information CenterResults from the 2024 Elections & Voting Information (EVIC) Local Election Official Survey and ongoing research by Merivaki and Suttmann-Lea identify three important lessons…

September 23, 2025

From Scarcity to Safety: Mitigating Turnover Among Local Election Officials

By Yuguo Liao, PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Administration, University of Missouri-St. Louis and David C. Kimball, PhD, Professor of Political Science, University of Missouri-St. Louis (SPECIAL FOR ELECTIONLINEWEEKLY)Local election officials (LEOs) are vital to maintaining trust and efficiency in the democratic process. However, turnover intentions among LEOs are concerningly high, with environmental challenges like resource scarcity and safety concerns significantly influencing decisions to leave their positions.In the work…

September 23, 2025

The 2022-2023 Oregon Elections Staffing Study

We are excited to announce a new EVIC report on Oregon Local Election Official Staffing Commissioned by the Elections Division of the Oregon Secretary of State’s OfficeToday, Paul Gronke and Paul Manson testified before the Oregon House Interim Committee on Rules regarding the “Oregon County Election Staffing Research Study” that EVIC prepared under their direction as commissioned by the Elections Division of the Oregon Secretary of State’s office to assess the staffing challenges faced by local election officials (LEOs) in Oregon.EVIC’s report summarizes the findings from this study…

September 23, 2025

The EVIC Local Election Official Survey Project

The Local Election Official (LEO) Survey project was initiated in 2018 by EVIC and has continued with 2019, 2020, 2022,…

See all articles

Contact

Paul Gronke, PhD | EVIC Founding Director | Reed College | gronkep@reed.edu

Paul Manson, PhD | EVIC Research Director | Portland State University | mansonp@pdx.edu