Federal Election Reform Network / The Century Foundation to Evaluate the Election Process in New York New Jersey, and Virginia

What's New: November 05, 2001
The Century Foundation to Evaluate the Election Process in New York New Jersey, and Virginia
The Century Foundation

One year after a troublesome and protracted election process brought into sharp focus the deficiencies of our nation�s patchwork voting system, The Century Foundation is evaluating how state and local governments have responded to calls for improvements. The Foundation has tapped three experts on local elections to examine procedures for voting and vote counting in tomorrow�s elections in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia.

Ronald Hayduk of City University, Ingrid W. Reed of Rutgers Unversity�s Eagleton Institute, and Jon Gould f George Mason University are looking into voting issues unique to each location based on current voting structures, equipment, and political influences. They will examine issues such as what improvements, if any, were made, and how they affect the process; the effect of voter turnout on the process; and what problems still remain. They also will look at procedures for voter registration and election administration in each location.

Ron Hayduk, who teaches political science at CUNY, was the coordinator of the New York City Voter Assistance Commission, 1993-96. He has written extensively about New York City elections, political participation, social movements, immigration and race, and regional planning. He has served as a consultant on these issues with several policy organizations, including Demos and the Aspen Roundtable.

Ingrid W. Reed is the director of the Eagleton New Jersey Project, a project aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of New Jersey politics. Her work has focused primarily on education, research, and public service related to improving the usefulness of campaigns to the voters.

Jon Gould is a faculty member in public and international affairs and law and assistant director of the Administration of Justice program at George Mason. He has worked with three presidential campaigns. Before joining the GMU faculty, he practiced election law and was chair of the American Bar Association�s Election Law Committee.

The reports on the New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia elections, along with a report on the mayoral election in Los Angeles, will be issued in early 2002. The project is part of The Century Foundation�s continuing work in election reform. The Foundation was the cosponsor of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. This past summer the commission released its recommendations for improving the accuracy and fairness of federal elections.

The project researchers are available for interviews or consultation. For more information, please contact Christy Hicks at The Century Foundation at (212) 452-7723 or [email protected].

To learn more about The Century Foundation, visit their website at http://www.tcf.org.

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