Making Every Vote Count: The Important Role of Managerial Capacity in Achieving Better Election Administration Outcomes

Abstract

A public agency's capacity to implement policy and achieve valued public outcomes has been a long‐running area of research in public administration. Many articles provide theory and empirics regarding the capacity to implement policy, but relatively few examine multiple types of agency capacity within the same analysis. This article develops a model based on the election administration literature in political science and public administration to examine the effects of managerial capacity, financial capacity, and technology on the election management outcome of the residual vote rate in North Carolina election jurisdictions. The results indicate that higher levels of management capacity and technology significantly reduce problems with voting as measured by the residual vote rate. Financial capacity shows a negative association with the residual vote rate but is not significant. The article concludes by discussing how studying election administration provides an important and uniquely good administrative context for developing administrative theory.

Evaluating the Recessionary Impact on Election Administration Budgeting and Spending

“…More research is needed on how professional election administrators respond versus less professionalized administrative staffs. The capacity of election administration offices may be able to buffer the impact of a lack of resources (Kropf et al, 2020). This study shows that local election administrators in the United States cannot rely on a steady and adequate supply of resources to finance election administration, which are likely influenced significantly by resource scarcity during difficult economic times.…”

“…The varying resources of the counties alone should lead us to believe that the residual vote level across jurisdictions will vary” (p. 370). Kropf et al (2020) suggest that election resources utilized to fund good election managers can help minimize residual votes.…”

A New and Reinvigorated Research Agenda for U.S. Local Governments

“…As we have learned, the administration of elections has consequences both small and large, with far-reaching implications. But until recently, managing local elections had been a topic that garnered little scholarly scrutiny (Hale and Brown 2020; Kropf et al 2020). It is receiving attention now but there is a risk to scholars in plowing fresh ground, especially when it involves the collection of original data.…”

For the People: Uncertainty, Elections, and Enduring Consequences

“…In their article, “Making Every Vote Count: The Important Role of Managerial Capacity in Achieving Better Election Administration Outcomes,” Kropf et al (2020) examine the capacity of agencies to implement policy and achieve outcomes through the lens of election administration literature. Combining insights from political science and public administration, the authors focus on the effects of managerial capacity, financial capacity, and technology on the residual vote rate in North Carolina election jurisdictions.…”

“…Kropf et al (2020) also highlight the importance of technology in maintaining the election administration system. However, given the lack of internal capacity to manage this technology, election administration often favors networks of contractors to manage and troubleshoot election voting systems.…”