Research & Reality of Rural Election Administration

Join us on March 26 at 1 p.m. for a closer look at the research and distinct challenges facing rural election administrators across America

Note: TJ Pyche is now with Ready for Tuesday.

There are more than 10,000 election jurisdictions in the United States. The majority of these are small townships or counties generally located in rural areas of our country. And while election administrators adhere to the same laws and regulations, rural election officials face different challenges than those faced in the large, urban jurisdictions.

Join us on March 26 at 1 p.m. for a conversation exploring the unique challenges of rural election administration and the research behind it.

Dr. Cameron Wimpy is the director of the Institute for Rural Initiatives (IRI) at Arkansas State University. IRI was recently awarded a grant to explore how election administration practices vary across the urban-rural spectrum. He recently hosted the Rural Election Administration Symposium to map out some of the challenges and opportunities that distinguish rural election administration.

The discussion will take a deeper look at this research effort and hear some of Dr. Wimpy’s initial findings as well as the firsthand experience of election practitioners Jennifer Clack of Craighead County, Arkansas, a symposium participant, and Sydney Romine of Surry County, North Carolina, who has attended a number of Election Science, Reform, and Administration (ESRA) conferences to learn about the intersection of elections administration and academic research.

Books & Ballots is a webinar series – now found on Substack and as a podcast on Spotify – hosted in partnership with Ready for Tuesday, the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR), and MIT Election Data + Science Lab (MEDSL).