Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-cx56b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-02T19:19:08.905Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Punch Cards, Jim Crow, and Al Gore: Explaining Voter Trust in the Electoral System in Georgia, 2000

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Charles S. Bullock III ,
M. V. Hood III  and
Richard Clark
Charles S. Bullock III
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
M. V. Hood III
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
Richard Clark
Affiliation:
Carl Vinson Institute of Government
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Following the problems with presidential voting in Florida in 2000, voters and political scientists became interested in election administration. While empirical studies have shown that different election equipment can produce different tabulation error rates, little is known about the factors that affect voters' perceptions of good election administration. Using a survey of voters in Georgia, we examine these perceptions of the voting process. We find that black voters and Democrats were significantly less confident than others that their votes were counted accurately and that they were also more likely to express concerns over the election equipment they used. In contrast, the actual voting environment, including the type of voting equipment used, appears to have no direct bearing on voters' trust in the process.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , Fall 2005 , pp. 283 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Association for Public Opinion Research. 2004. Standard Definitions: Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Surveys. 3rd ed. Lenexa, KS: AAPOR.Google Scholar
Anderson, Will. 2001. “Parties Blame Each Other for DeKalb Voting Snafu,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 18 February, G4.Google Scholar
Ansolabehere, Stephen. 2002. “Voting Machines, Race, and Equal Protection.” Election Law Journal 1:61–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ansolabehere, Stephen, and Stewart, Charles. 2005. “Residual Votes Attributable to Technology.” Journal of Politics. Forthcoming.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, Robert, Chadha, Anita, and Montjoy, Robert. 2001. “Overreporting Voting: Why It Happens and Why It Matters.” Public Opinion Quarterly 65:22–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bullock, Charles S. III, and Hood, M. V. III 2002. “One Person [No Vote; One Vote; Two Votes]: Voting Methods, Ballot Types, and Undervote Frequency in the 2000 Presidential Election.” Social Science Quarterly 83:981–93.Google Scholar
Damron, David. 2001. “System Counts Every Vote-And Then Some,” Orlando Sentinel, 8 March, A6.Google Scholar
Englehardt, Joel, and McCabe, Scott. 2002. “Butterfly Ballot Cost Gore Election,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11 March, 1A, 12A.Google Scholar
Eversley, Melanie. 2001. “In Election Nightmares, Georgia Topped Florida,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 8 March, A10.Google Scholar
Fenno, Richard F. Jr. 1975. “If, as Ralph Nader Says, Congress Is ‘The Broken Branch,‘ How Come We Love Our Congressmen So Much?” In Congress in Change: Evolution and Reform, ed. Ornstein, Norman J.. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Fiedler, Tom. 2002. “The Encore of Key Largo.” In Overtime!, ed. Sabato, Larry J.. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Gorov, Lynda. 2000. “Black Areas Had the Most Ballot Problems,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2 December, A15.Google Scholar
Hetherington, Mark J. 1998. “The Political Relevance of Political Trust.” American Political Science Review 91:791–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbing, John R., and Theiss-Morse, Elizabeth. 1997. “What the Public Dislikes about Congress.” In Congress Reconsidered, eds. Dodd, Lawrence C. and Oppenheimer, Bruce I.. 6th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Katosh, John P., and Traugott, Michael W.. 1981. “The Consequences of Validated and Self-Reported Voting Measures.” Public Opinion Quarterly 45:519–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Lim Kin, and Racheter, Donald P.. 1973. “Candidates' Perceptions of Voter Competence: A Comparison of Winning and Losing Candidates.” American Political Science Review 67: 906–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingdon, John W. 1968. Candidates for Office: Beliefs and Strategies. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Klain, Ronald A., and Bash, Jeremy B.. 2002. “The Labor of Sisyphs: The Gore Recount Perspective.” In Overtime!, ed. Sabato, Larry J.. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Knack, Stephen, and Kropf, Martha. 2003. “Voided Ballots in the 1996 Presidential Election: A County-Level Analysis.” Journal of Politics 65:881–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lavrakas, Paul J. 1993. Telephone Survey Methods: Sampling, Selection, and Supervision. 2nd ed. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, Steven F. 1976. Black Ballots. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Long, J. Scott. 1997. Regression Models for Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Parker, Frank R. 1990. Black Votes Count. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posner, Richard A. 2001. Breaking the Deadlock. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, Vincent, and Romantan, Anca. 2004. “Confidence in Institutions Before, During, and After ‘Indecision 2000.‘” Journal of Politics 66:939–56.Google Scholar
Rahn, Wendy M., Brehm, John, and Carlson, Neil. 1999. “National Elections as Institutions for Generating Social Capital.” In Civic Engagement in American Democracy, eds. Skocpol, Theda and Fiorina, Morris P.. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Rankin, Bill. 2001. “Uniform Voting System May Meet Opposition,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3 January, B6.Google Scholar
Rodgers, Harrell R., and Bullock, Charles S. III. 1972. Law and Social Change. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Tomz, Michael, Wittenberg, Jason, and King, Gary. 2003. CLARIFY: Software for Interpreting and Presenting Statistical Results. Version 2.1. Stanford University, University of Wisconsin, and Harvard University. January 5. http://gking.harvard.edu/ (March 29, 2005).Google Scholar
Toobin, Jeffrey. 2001. Too Close to Call. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Visser, Steve. 2001. “Fulton Suit Challenges Vote Method,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6 January, C1.Google Scholar
Wright, Gerald C. 1990. “Misreports of Vote Choice in the 1988 NES Senate Election Study.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 15:543–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar