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Surveying the situation
Orange County, Calif. uses series of surveys to assess the process

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose — Zora Neale Hurston

Orange County, California Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley was used to hearing lots of great anecdotal evidence about the elections process in his county, but he was always curious about the hard facts of the process so in 2009 he decided to formalize that curiosity with a series of elections surveys.

“…[E]verything we were hearing from poll workers and/or voters was anecdotal – so I wanted some concrete ways to measure results and provide a solid base to capture some ways to monitor metrics,” said Kelley.

The county has been conducting Election Day surveys for more than five years now and runs the program for all elections — including special elections. The county released its 120-page report on the June 3, 2014 primary in September and the November 2014 report will be available shortly. Read More…