Welcome to the post-event website for Data for Democracy, a conference sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts’ and the JEHT Foundation’s Make Voting Work project, and held May 12-13 in Washington D.C.

Data for Democracy is a part of Make Voting Work’s initiative to address the need for empirical data to improve election administration in the United States. The conference convened an array of stakeholders who use election data to clarify thinking on those elements critical to an assessment of the performance of our electoral system.

This two-day meeting brought together election administrators, scholars, lawyers, and advocates to discuss the challenges and opportunities for improving the accuracy and relevancy of election data. We ranged over a broad set of topics (the agenda is available at the conference website), including:

• Examples of how data has helped elections officials improve elections management,
• Examples of how data have been used by scholars, advocates, and elections officials
• Various ways that elections data can be collected and reported
• A series of topical panels on elections related issues (voter registration, UOCAVA, election technology, early and absentee voting, provisional voting) and how data can help us understand this area better.

We hope this blog provides a venue for broader conversation about Data for Democracy. We invite you to read, comment, and contribute to this important dialogue.