Practitioner Commentary: Vote Centers, Voting Equipment, and Uncertainty in Election Administration

摘要

The field of election administration has seen numerous changes since the 2000 presidential election. Some of the changes have been self-initiated, some externally mandated, and some the unintended consequences of other changes. The experiences of Larimer County, Colorado, illustrate all three.rnIn 2003, Larimer County pioneered the use of vote centers, a system that dramatically reduced the number of polling places but allowed each eligible voter to vote in any one of them. While the system has worked well for Larimer County, new rules for voting equipment have interacted with old, and seemingly unrelated, reporting requirements to cause continuing implementation issues.