Study finds acceptance of voting centers in Missouri, California

(The Center Square) — As voters in St. Louis County prepare to vote in next Tuesday’s Missouri primary, research finds they strongly prefer the ability to cast ballots at any polling place in the county.

Researchers verified voting centers — polling places where votes can be cast without restricting the voter to a specific location for voting — are preferred by voters, election officials and poll workers. Professors at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and California State University designed a study to measure voter and poll worker awareness and satisfaction with the system.

The research, published in the Election Law Journal earlier this month, found “largely positive evaluations and strong preferences for vote centers” in Fresno County in California and St. Louis County, the two jurisdictions studied. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia allow jurisdictions to use vote centers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“We think the reason, first of all and foremost, is people don’t get turned away from being at the wrong polling place,” Anita Manion, a political science professor at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, said in an interview with The Center Square. “And that’s a big frustration for voters and poll workers. But in these instances you can go to any polling place in the county. So I think it takes that issue off the table.”

Manion co-authored the article with political science professors David Kimball, also at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and Lisa Bryant at California State University-Fresno.

“I heard so many stories and know people personally who waited in line for an hour only to find out they’re at the wrong place and can’t cast their ballot,” Manion said. “How likely is it they’re going to drive across town and wait in another line? This really helps make voting more accessible for voters.”

The research found overwhelmingly positive perceptions of election security with the new system.

“Large majorities in both jurisdictions also perceive that elections are more secure under the vote-center model,” according to the report, “Thus, vote centers were implemented successfully in two large but very different counties.”

The study, funded with $85,935 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Data and Science Lab, analyzed data from the 2022 midterm election. Before the 2020 general election, hundreds of poll workers quit due to concerns about contracting COVID-19. Election boards had difficulty getting private organizations to offer their buildings as polling places due to the pandemic.

However, it appears pandemic-related changes led to acceptance of voter centers.

“Election boards need fewer polling places and workers, so it makes their jobs easier in terms of staffing and finding locations,” Manion said. “It has a cost savings because they pay fewer poll workers.”

St. Louis County also launched an online system to show how long the lines are at each voting center.

“Based on the evidence so far, it appears that St. Louis County successfully implemented vote centers without state guidance and without other state-level convenience options available, like expanded voting by mail,” according to the report. “We tend to think that these are poor conditions for instituting significant election reforms; however, our study suggests that might not be the case. In this comparison, the state requirements in California did not seem to yield a smoother transition to vote centers, although the evaluations are largely positive in Fresno County.”