Michigan Expertise

In a political climate where election security is frequently called into question, Michigan municipal leaders show increasing confidence in Michigan elections, according to a recent report by researchers at the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) in the Ford School of Public Policy.

Claims of election fraud get a lot of attention in contemporary political discourse, but how can we tell whether fraudulent votes have actually been counted? University of Michigan political scientist Walter R. Mebane, Jr. has spent much of his career trying to answer this question by developing Election Forensics (eforensics), a statistical model for determining how many votes, if any, are improperly allocated in an election due to fraud.

Claims of election fraud and threats to election security are frequent in contemporary U.S. political discourse, but to what extent are elections actually at risk? J. Alex Halderman, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, is a cybersecurity expert whose research investigates threats to U.S. elections in an effort to answer precisely that question.

Stories of the polarized state of our electorate may dominate today’s headlines, but how accurately do they reflect political engagement? What are the implications of continued focus on the loudest, most partisan voices? Yanna Krupnikov, Professor of Communications and Media, focuses her research on the complex relationship between news media and perceptions of political divide.

As Election Day nears, polls and the results of polls have a constant presence in media reports about political contests, the attitudes of the electorate, and views of voters. Polls, however, vary greatly in methodological approach, framing, and accuracy. 538’s recent analysis of pollsters places two University of Michigan PhDs, Dr. Ken Goldstein (Ph.D. 1996) and Dr. Charles Franklin (Ph.D. 1985) amongst the top in their field.

The American National Election Studies is a national resource that has served as a leading source of data on public opinion in electoral politics since 1948. The Center for Political Studies has recently published a series on the 75th anniversary of the ANES: Including a Q&A about the project with the current Principal Investigator, U-M’s Nicholas Valentino; a visual history of the project; and reflections from scholars who have been impacted by the ANES.

Megan A. Stewart, associate professor at U-M’s Ford School of Public Policy and director of the International Policy Center, discusses the potential implications of the election on prospects for peace in those key conflict zones.

Joyojeet Pal, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, discusses social media’s role in India’s recent elections. Pal studies technology in democracy and labor, specializing in politicians’ use of social media and misinformation, particularly in India.

Venezuela stands at a pivotal point after its recent presidential election, where Nicolás Maduro secured his position amid significant economic and social turmoil. This election highlighted a profound ideological rift within the nation, beyond just the candidates themselves. Expert Q&A with Edgar Franco-Vivanco, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Michigan. His work encompasses Latin American politics, historical political economy, criminal violence and indigenous politics.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace scholar Aaron David Miller and Arab Gulf States Institute scholar Hussein Ibbish find points of common ground and model respectful disagreement in this wide-ranging discussion about the crisis in the Middle East.