A new barrier to participation: Heterogeneous application of voter identification policies

In democratic societies there is a tension between maximizing ballot access and minimizing voter fraud. Since the 2000 presidential election, this tension has been central to discussions about election reform at the national, state, and local level. We examine this tension by focusing on the implementation of voter identification laws in one state that has experienced significant issues in recent elections, and that is currently implementing election reform: New Mexico. We hypothesize that Hispanic voters are more likely to show some form of identification than other types of voters. Using a voter data set from New Mexico's First Congressional District in the 2006 election, we find that Hispanic, male and Election Day voters are more likely to show some form of identification than non-Hispanic, female and early voters. In addition, using an overlapping study of Bernalillo County 2006 poll workers, which almost entirely overlaps with the First Congressional District, we find no evidence that differences in poll worker partisanship or ethnicity produce differences in voter identification procedures. Our findings suggest that broad voter identification laws, which may be applied unequally, may be perceived as discriminatory.     

Towards a Sociological Understanding of Football Hooliganism as a World Phenomenon

In this article a sociological diagnosis of football hooliganism as a world phenomenon is given. The author uses mainly English (newspaper) data about football violence (in and outside England) as an empirical base to explore how hooliganism can be theorised and understood. These data can usefully serve as a rough indication of the worldwide incidence of football hooliganism in the twentieth century. The author favours the figurational/process-sociological approach to football hooliganism which is historical and developmental. It also involves an exploration of the meanings of hooligan behaviour via an analysis of verbatim statements by the hooligans themselves, locates the football hooligans in the overall social structure, especially the class system, and examines the dynamics of the relationship between them and groups in the wider society. It is important, nevertheless, to stress that it is unlikely that the phenomenon of football hooliganism will be found always and everywhere to stem from identical social roots. As a basis for further, cross-national research, it is reasonable to hypothesise that the problem is fuelled and contoured by, among other things, what one might call the major 'fault-lines' of particular countries. Effective policies are urgently needed if the great social invention of football is to be protected from the serious threat posed by a combination of hooligan fans, complacent politicians and money-grabbing owners, managers and players.     

Gubernatorial Transitions: Lessons From the 1982-1983 Experience

The 1982 gubernatorial elections led to transitions betweenoutgoing and incoming administrations in seventeen states. Thisarticle is an overview of what transpired during those transitionsbased on studies conducted by state analysts in sixteen of theseventeen states. While politics was still a major part of thecontext in which the transitions occurred, the fiscal situationin the states framed the transitions, and there was an apparentincrease in professionalism. Not all was politics. Further,transition is a longer period than normally understood, startingwell before the election and continuing until the legislaturehas adjourned.     

Rational and Pluralistic Approaches to HAVA Implementation: The Cases of Georgia and California

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) has created a new dynamic forthe oversight and implementation of federal elections, requiringstates to assume greater control of election processes vis-à-vistheir local governments than was previously the case in moststates. We consider how HAVA has changed the relationship betweenstates and localities, especially through the HAVA planningprocess. We examine two approaches that states have used inHAVA planning—a rational approach and a pluralistic approach—andhow each can shape the power relationship between states andlocalities. We then present case studies from Georgia and Californiato illustrate how these two approaches have functioned in practice.     

US voter registration reform

Voter registration in the United States changed after the 2000 election with a requirement that states adopt statewide voter registries. However, these registries vary in design in practice, with some states having state managed “top–down” registries and other states having more decentralized “bottom–up” registries. I compare the effect of moving to a top–down registry with the adoption of Election Day registration – where voters can register to vote the day of the election – on voters saying that they are not registered because of election management problems or not voting because of a voter registration issue. EDR had a pronounced effect on reducing voter registration problems but the adoption of new voter registries had minimal effect on the same problems.