Survey of building blocks of election administration, from voter registration to recounts.

Theories and basic structure of the American legal system. Experience with basic tools and skills for using the law to understand and analyze issues facing election administrators across the nation. Use of election-related and non-election related materials to prepare election administrators for interacting with counsel, legislators and the courts in carrying out their responsibilities.

Strategic management for election administrators in the political environment. Election official tools and challenges. The role of the lawmaking process in budgeting and organizational planning.

Election administration design principles, including ballot and polling place design and poll worker training materials. Application of principles of field.

Voter participation issues and challenges including historical survey of voter participation in US and methods to increase voter turnout.

Evidence-based election administration. Collection and analysis of quantitative data to solve problems and identify opportunities for improvement. Emphasis on pre-election forecasting for planning purposes and post-election auditing of election results.

This course will examine the history of cyberattacks on the United States and the American election system, with special attention to the 2016 election cycle. Students will explore the types of cybersecurity threats that exist and strategies to protect against them; understand the roles different levels of government can play in the process, and hear from key officials about the issues raised by the official response to election security threats at the federal, state and local levels as well as in related private sector communities.

?Elections Security? uses the Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election as a case study to identify the vulnerabilities of US elections (especially state voter registration databases) as well as catalogue new protections. Readings and discussion will focus on best practices and technology options available to the public (social media) and elections professionals (cybersecurity) in guarding against future influence efforts and assuring public confidence in election outcomes. Special focus will be given to describing how local election officials can protect their election technology, most notably those vulnerabilities associated with their voting system and voter registration database. ?Elections Security? will draw heavily on concrete cases and challenges facing election professionals, using government and independent reports and an indepth analysis of new resources created by the US Department of Homeland Security and its collaborations with election professionals.

U.S. Homeland Security designated election security as a ?critical infrastructure? after threats from foreign governments, and collaborates with states in detecting and responding to foreign interference. This course will provide students with a deeper understanding of the current security context and best practices and processes for physically safeguarding elections based on 2016 and 2020. Students will learn the difference between physical and cyber threats to U.S. systems; tangible steps to protect election offices and their equipment; the use of audits to ensure the accuracy of elections; the integration of security into vendor relationships; and the connection between physical election security and citizen trust in elections. Content will be explored through readings (including government documents and studies), videos, discussions, and writing assignments.