Free and fair elections are the foundation of a healthy democracy.
The Ash Center brings together research, events, and expert analysis on voting, election administration, civic participation, and the institutions that help ensure elections are accessible, secure, and trusted.
Video
Harvard Ash Center Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy Miles Rapoport advocates that universal voting, a requirement that every citizen cast a ballot, could reduce polarization and pave a pathway to a more equitable American democracy.
Feature
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to engaging the diverse AAPI voter community says expert panel.
Video
The 2020 election saw a dramatic increase in Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) voter participation—increasing ten percentage points over 2016. In the runup to the 2022 midterm elections, how will political parties continue to court AAPI voters? What strategies work to reach the growing AAPI community?
Q+A
To discuss the filibuster and its impact on voting rights and the Senate, we sat down with Archon Fung, Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Democracy at Harvard Kennedy School and the director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation’s Democratic Governance Program.
Q+A
Requiring citizens to vote, or actively abstain, would increase voter participation and make democracy more representative in the Bay State says Ash Center Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy.
Testimony
Video
In the nearly one year since the November 2020 elections, the diverging directions state legislatures took on expanding or contracting voting rights created a huge fault line in American democracy, described by some as ‘two Americas’. A Voting Rights Lab tracking report as of September 13, 2021, identified 27 states representing 70 million voters that had passed laws to expand voting opportunities, and 13 states with 55 million people that had passed sharply restrictive legislation. And state legislatures were still at work. What’s causing this divergence?
How are voting rights advocates advancing their work in such disparate political environments? What does it mean for upcoming elections and the future of American democracy? Join the Ash Center as voting advocates from two key states that have gone in opposite directions and policy experts evaluated the trends, discussed the present, and looked into the future.
Speakers include:
Feature
Two Kennedy School student research projects chart path forward on voter engagement.
Video
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation convened advocates from the states and Capitol Hill to discuss what is at stake and the strategies being used in the fight for voting rights and democracy reform.
Commentary
On March 1, the Georgia House of Representatives passed H.B.531, a sweeping elections bill that critics and voting rights advocates were quick to note increases restrictions on absentee voting and curtails weekend early voting hours.
Video
Video
The 2020 elections were a dramatic interplay of major procedural changes brought about as a result of COVID-19, multiple attempts to limit and discourage voting and a strong pushback against them, and extraordinary efforts to mobilize citizens to vote.
Video
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation hosted a conversation to discuss the priorities of LGBTQ voters and how they are being mobilized to get out and vote in November 2020.
Feature
Ash Center Fellow Miles Rapoport helps ignite a public debate on implementing universal voting in the United States
Video
Will environmentalists vote in November? Environmentalists aren’t voting as much as they ought to, but recent advances in data analytics and behavioral science offer hope for 2020 and beyond.