Replay: Books and Ballots Conversation on Trust in Elections
What researchers are finding about election trust – and what it means for election administrators
Editor’s Note: Books & Ballots conversations are now being reposted to Spotify as part of our effort to make these discussions more accessible. You can now listen to full webinar recordings as podcast episodes, whether you’re commuting, traveling, or catching up between meetings. Be sure to follow the show on Spotify so you don’t miss future conversations.
What does it really mean to trust elections?
In this recorded episode of Books & Ballots, we focused on public perceptions of elections — whether voters believe elections are free, fair, and conducted properly. Often described as “trust” or “confidence,” these perceptions shape how people experience and interpret the electoral process.
Academic researchers have spent years studying trends in election confidence, partisan differences, and the factors that influence public attitudes. In this conversation, three leading scholars shared findings they recently presented at the Southern Political Science Association Conference, unpacking the patterns, shifts, and insights they’re seeing in the data.
Joining the discussion:
Dr. Lonna Atkeson (latkeson@fsu.edu), Florida State University LeRoy Collins Eminent Scholar in Civic Education and Political Science and Director of the LeRoy Collins Institute.
Dr. Thad Kousser (tkousser@mail.ucsd.edu), Associate Dean of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego and Co-Director of the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections.
Dr. Mara Suttmann-Lea (csuttmann@conncoll.edu), Associate Professor of American Politics at Connecticut College and Andrew Carnegie Research Fellow.
Together, they explore what the research says about public confidence in elections, how those attitudes have evolved, and what it all means for election administrators, policymakers, and voters. Additional resources from their research are below
Books & Ballots is now hosted on Substack and is a partnership of The Elections Group, the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR), and the MIT Election Data + Science Lab (MEDSL).
Resources
Dr. Suttmann-Lea’s research
Suttmann-Lea, Mara, Thessalia Merivaki, and Rachel Orey. 2025. “When Election Officials Speak, Do Voters Listen? Trust-Building Communications, Information Seeking, and Voter Confidence in the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections.” Political Communication.
Mara Suttmann-Lea and Thessalia Merivaki. 2024. Voter Education Report for the US Election Assistance Commission. US Election Assistance Commission.
Merivaki, Thessalia, Mara Suttmann-Lea, Mary-Catherine McCreary, and Tyler Daniel. 2024. “The #TrustedInfo2022 Dataset: States’ Trust-Building Social Media Campaigns during the 2022 Election Cycle.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 24(4): 468–78.
Mara Suttmann-Lea and Thessalia Merivaki. 2023. “The Impact of Voter Education on Voter Confidence: Evidence from the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.” Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy 22(2): 145–65.
Election Official Communications Tracker Beta Version 2.0 (with Lia Merivaki)
Dr. Kousser’s research
Kousser, Thad, Lauren Prather, Laura Uribe, Theodoros Ntounias, Seth Hill, Mindy Romero, Cheryl Boudreau, Jennifer Merolla, Jennifer Gaudette, Mackenzie Lockhart. 2026. Trust in American Elections Has Declined Since 2024, Broad Concerns about ICE at Polling Places in 2026. Report from the UC San Diego Center on Transparent and Trusted Elections.
Gaudette, Jennifer, Seth J. Hill, Thad Kousser, Mackenzie Lockhart, and Mindy Romero. 2025. “Can Official Messaging on Trust in Elections Break Through Partisan Polarization?” British Journal of Political Science 55: e16.
Kousser, Thad, Jennifer Gaudette, Seth Hill, and Mindy Romero. 2025. “Can Informational Videos Increase Trust in Elections?” UC San Diego Center on Transparent and Trusted Elections.
Lockhart, Research Mackenzie, Jennifer Gaudette, Seth Hill, and Thad Kousser. 2025. “Can Prebunking Messages Convince Voters to Trust Delayed Results?” UC San Diego Center on Transparent and Trusted Elections.
Prather, Lauren, and Thad Kousser. 2025. “Can Election Facility Tours Increase Trust in Elections?” UC San Diego Center on Transparent and Trusted Elections.
Lockhart, Mackenzie, Jennifer Gaudette, Seth J Hill, Thad Kousser, Mindy Romero, and Laura Uribe. 2024. “Voters Distrust Delayed Election Results, but a Prebunking Message Inoculates against Distrust.” PNAS Nexus 3(10): pgae414.
Thad Kousser, Lauren Prather, Laura Uribe, and Alex Zhao. 2025. How Did Trust in Elections Change After the 2024 Elections. UC San Diego Yankelovich Center Report.
Dr. Atkeson’s research
Atkeson, Lonna Rae, Eli McKown-Dawson, and Robert M. Stein. 2025. “The Costs of Voting and Voter Confidence.” Political Research Quarterly 78(1): 22–37.
Atkeson, Lonna Rae, Eli McKown-Dawson, Jack Santucci, and Kyle L. Saunders. 2024. “The Impact of Voter Confusion in Ranked Choice Voting.” Social Science Quarterly 105(4): 1029–41.
Atkeson, Lonna Rae, R. Michael Alvarez, and Thad E. Hall. 2015. “Voter Confidence: How to Measure It and How It Differs from Government Support.” Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy 14(3): 207–19.
Atkeson, Lonna Rae, and Kyle L. Saunders. 2007. “The Effect of Election Administration on Voter Confidence: A Local Matter?” PS: Political Science and Politics 40(4): 655–60.