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July 8, 2023 guest opinion article for The Hill, "Voter registration rolls are a mess — here’s how we can clean them up." (Headline is a bit misleading, but it does drive home one point in the article.) Co-authored with Sam Oliker-Friedland, Executive Director of the Institute for Responsive Government.
States Newsroom article on my report for the Institute for Responsive Government (report link below) and some data I analyzed from the US Election Assistance Commission.
June 2023 report "Using Medicaid Automatic Voter Registration to Address Persistent Voter Registration Problems: Helping the National Voter Registration Act Achieve its Potential," published by the Institute for Responsive Government.
June 2023 report evaluating the impact of interventions to improve Section 7 of the NVRA on the registration and voting rates of women with low incomes.
May 2023 memo to the election research and advocacy community on expanding federal survey data on voter registration and turnout.
I co-edited a special symposium published in the APSA journal PS: Political Science & Politics on civically engaged research (CER). I co-wrote the introduction and one article, and co-edited other articles. The articles cover defining CER, why do it, how to do it, using CER in the classroom, and ethical issues in engaged scholarship. (Articles may be behind a paywall for non-APSA members.)
This law would help protect US elections — so why won’t Republicans support it? A guest column for The Hill, April 29, 2022.
Making it easier to vote does not threaten election integrity. A news analysis guest column for The Conversation on March 17, 2021 that also ran in a numerous other papers.
A serious test of US democracy will come after Nov. 3. A guest column for The Hill on October 29, 2020 using data from the Grinnell College National Poll.
NVRA performance data set, Missouri. (January 14, 2019) Data and code book on voter registration transactions at Missouri’s Department of Social Services (DSS) offices from 2008 to 2018.
Declining Confidence In Election Results May Be Depressing Voter Turnout. My guest blog for the London School of Economics' United States Centre (January 2019), discussing results from the 2018 Grinnell College National Poll.
"A Review of National Voter Registration Act Compliance in SNAP Applications" writing with Alexandra Ashrbook of FRAC and Sarah Brannon of Project Vote.
Memo on the potential benefits of the much denounced voter registration list maintenance letter (June 2017) from the Voting Section of the Department of Justice to state election officials.
Hess, Hanmer, & Nickerson. (2016). "Encouraging Local Compliance with Federal Civil Rights Laws: Field Experiments with the National Voter Registration Act." Public Administration Review, DOI: 10.1111/puar.12473
My guest blog for The Monkey Cage/Washington Post (July 4, 2015) about the lack of state compliance with National Voter Registration Act.
July 8, 2023 guest opinion article for The Hill, "Voter registration rolls are a mess — here’s how we can clean them up." (Headline is a bit misleading, but it does drive home one point in the article.) Co-authored with Sam Oliker-Friedland, Executive Director of the Institute for Responsive Government.
States Newsroom article on my report for the Institute for Responsive Government (report link below) and some data I analyzed from the US Election Assistance Commission.
June 2023 report "Using Medicaid Automatic Voter Registration to Address Persistent Voter Registration Problems: Helping the National Voter Registration Act Achieve its Potential," published by the Institute for Responsive Government.
June 2023 report evaluating the impact of interventions to improve Section 7 of the NVRA on the registration and voting rates of women with low incomes.
May 2023 memo to the election research and advocacy community on expanding federal survey data on voter registration and turnout.
I co-edited a special symposium published in the APSA journal PS: Political Science & Politics on civically engaged research (CER). I co-wrote the introduction and one article, and co-edited other articles. The articles cover defining CER, why do it, how to do it, using CER in the classroom, and ethical issues in engaged scholarship. (Articles may be behind a paywall for non-APSA members.)
- "Introduction to the Symposium: Civically Engaged Research and Political Science." (2021) PS: Political Science & Politics. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096521000834
- "Defining Civically Engaged Research as Scholarship in Political Science." (2021) PS: Political Science & Politics . doi.org/10.1017/S1049096521000676
This law would help protect US elections — so why won’t Republicans support it? A guest column for The Hill, April 29, 2022.
Making it easier to vote does not threaten election integrity. A news analysis guest column for The Conversation on March 17, 2021 that also ran in a numerous other papers.
A serious test of US democracy will come after Nov. 3. A guest column for The Hill on October 29, 2020 using data from the Grinnell College National Poll.
NVRA performance data set, Missouri. (January 14, 2019) Data and code book on voter registration transactions at Missouri’s Department of Social Services (DSS) offices from 2008 to 2018.
Declining Confidence In Election Results May Be Depressing Voter Turnout. My guest blog for the London School of Economics' United States Centre (January 2019), discussing results from the 2018 Grinnell College National Poll.
"A Review of National Voter Registration Act Compliance in SNAP Applications" writing with Alexandra Ashrbook of FRAC and Sarah Brannon of Project Vote.
Memo on the potential benefits of the much denounced voter registration list maintenance letter (June 2017) from the Voting Section of the Department of Justice to state election officials.
Hess, Hanmer, & Nickerson. (2016). "Encouraging Local Compliance with Federal Civil Rights Laws: Field Experiments with the National Voter Registration Act." Public Administration Review, DOI: 10.1111/puar.12473
My guest blog for The Monkey Cage/Washington Post (July 4, 2015) about the lack of state compliance with National Voter Registration Act.
| "A Review of National Voter Registration Act Compliance in SNAP Applications and How Anti-Hunger Groups Can Advocate for Improvements" |
| Lopatto & Hess (2016) Team Teaching. [Memo prepared for Ginnell College faculty.] |
| Hess & Lowry (2014) Toward a Hunger Free Alexandria |
Below is a community meeting in Alexandria, VA in 2017 that focuses on our report on "Toward a Hunger Free Alexandria." One of the recommendations in our report was the initiation of a new organization in the City. The nonprofit created following the report is Hunger Free Alexandria.
| Hess & Herman (2009) Representational Bias in the 2008 Electorate |
| Herman & Hess (2009) Internet Access and Voter Registration. |
| Mellor & Hess (2009) Improving Voter Registration Performance in Public Assistance Agencies through Modernizing Data Transfer Systems |
| Herman, Hess & Groarke (2009) A Review of Academic Literature on the Effectiveness of the National Voter Registration Act |
| Hess & Herman (2008) NVRA Section 7 Performance Indicators |
| Hess & Novakowski (2008) Unequal Access: Neglecting the NVRA, 1995-2007 |
| Herman & Hess (2008) Investigating Voting Rights in Colorado: Compliance with NVRA |
| Hess (2007) Representational Bias in the 2006 Electorate |
| Hess (2007) Investigating Voting Rights in Missouri: Compliance with NVRA |
| Hess, Wright & Uradomo (1995) Cheating Democracy: Implementation of the NVRA |