MIT Election Data and Science Lab

The MIT Election Data and Science Lab (MEDSL) advances and disseminates scientific knowledge about the conduct of elections, primarily in the United States, but with attention to the rest of the world.

Supported by a generous operating grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Lab began operating on January 1, 2017. This is a temporary website. We anticipate that the permanent site will be up and running at the end of 2017. Until then, feel free to explore updates to the progress we are making and plans for our lab.

The Lab's mission is to advance and disseminate scientific knowledge about the conduct of elections, primarily in the United States, but with attention to the rest of the world.

The Lab addresses multiple audiences.

(*) Among academic researchers, we will support cutting-edge research in the field, develop research datasets to be shared with the broader academic community and practitioners, provide a clearing house for access to datasets developed elsewhere, and coordinate research activities among affiliated research centers.

()* Among the general public, we will undertake an active program of engagement with the press, citizen groups, and public officials about the scientific issues related to the conduct of elections. We will build relationships with election officials, to disseminate new scientific findings into the practice of election administration.

Over the next three years (2017-2019), the Lab will be involved in the following seven activities. Watch this temporary website, and ultimately a permanent new website, as we build out our capabilities in these areas.

(*) Election Administration Data Archive and Clearing House. To facilitate the sharing of election data that is especially relevant to the advancement of Election Science, the Lab will develop a web-based tool that will serve as a clearing house for the dissemination of critical datasets, such as state voter registration files, nationwide precinct-level election returns, and GIS files relevant to the spatial analysis of election data.

()* Election Science Resource Portal. The Lab will contribute both to the establishment of a more robust academic field of Election Science and to the dissemination of its findings among the public by the development of a web site that will serve as a one-stop “portal”
(*) Election Science Research Network. The Lab will facilitate the creation of a network of scholars who identify with the field of Election Science and identify a set of academic institutions that share the same goals as MEDSL.

(*) "Snap" research on emerging election science topics. The Lab will maintain an ongoing research capacity that will allow it to deploy resources at a moment’s notice and provide “snap” analysis of emerging problems with American elections, in order to help communicate dispassionately with the public about the causes and possible solutions to such problems; and also to help identify long-term research directions for the scholarly community.

(*) Support the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project. MEDSL provides ongoing administrative support for the MIT operations of the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project.

()* Manage the Election Data and Science New Initiatives Fund. For the next three years, the Lab will provide grants to scholars — prioritizing advanced graduate students and junior faculty members -- to enhance the research they are conducting in the field of election science.