Database of State Voting Laws

Preparing for Elections During a Pandemic

Jennifer Kavanagh, C. Ben Gibson, Samantha Cherney

ToolPublished Aug 5, 2020

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has presented a severe threat to state election plans in 2020 for primaries and for the general election. To conduct an election during the COVID-19 pandemic, states need registration and voting options that minimize direct personal contact and that reduce crowds and common access to high-touch surfaces. Another way to think about preparedness for conducting elections during a pandemic is to consider the flexibility that state election processes afford in terms of where, when, and how voters can get registered and cast votes. Particularly valuable to flexibility in the pandemic context are options that allow for the registration and voting processes to happen remotely or in ways that reduce person-to-person contact. This tool supplements a companion report and provides state-by-state granular details about voter registration, remote voting, and early voting, including references to relevant state laws. This report is part of RAND's Countering Truth Decay initiative, which is focused on restoring the role of facts, data, and analysis in U.S. political and civil discourse and the policymaking process.

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Kavanagh, Jennifer, C. Ben Gibson, and Samantha Cherney, Database of State Voting Laws: Preparing for Elections During a Pandemic, RAND Corporation, TL-A112-1, 2020. As of September 17, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TLA112-1.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Kavanagh, Jennifer, C. Ben Gibson, and Samantha Cherney, Database of State Voting Laws: Preparing for Elections During a Pandemic. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2020. https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TLA112-1.html.
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Funding for RAND's Countering Truth Decay research initiative is provided by gifts from RAND supporters and income from operations. RAND would like to recognize the Joel and Joanne Mogy Truth Decay Fellowship, established by the Mogys in 2020 to support research on Truth Decay, civics, and democracy. The authors drew from the Mogys' generous gift to fund this project.

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