Election Administration Program

Auburn

Public Administration

Political Science

College of Liberal Arts

News

September 28, 2008
The Art of Democracy
Montgomery, Alabama

Trey Granger, Montgomery County's Election Director, initiated The Art of Democracy project as a way to represent poll workers and the grassroots spirit of elections. Dr. Paula Bobrowski, an election faculty member at Auburn University, spoke during the educational sessions held before the art exhibit.

For more information, see Jill Nolin's article in the Montgomery Advertiser: Art Captures Spirit of Democracy

August 28-31, 2008
American Political Science Association (APSA) Conference
Boston, Massachusetts

Kathleen Hale from Auburn University will be presenting on a panel titled "Teaching Public Policy to Concentrated Audiences of Non-Politics/Policy Students" along with Sally Cohen, Constance DeVereaux, Tomas Koontz, and Dorit Reiss. This workshop will address crosscutting issues faced by professors teaching public policy to students in fields such as arts management, environmental science, health care, law, and public election administration. Presenters will describe the context of their courses, the audience, suggestions for what works best, and challenges of teaching public policy to non-policy students. Discussion among workshop participants will facilitate sharing of common issues and ideas for success.

For more information on APSA or the conference, please visit www.apsanet.org/.

August 5-6, 2008
BDPA Election
Valerie Grupp, a master's student in the Election Administration concentration, helped conduct an election for the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) in Atlanta. BDPA conducted its election using Prime III, an electronic voting system that offers a secure, open-source, multimodal electronic voting system that delivers the necessary system security, integrity, and user satisfaction safeguards in a user-friendly interface that accommodates all people regardless of ability. Prime III was developed by Dr. Juan Gilbert and the Human-Centered Computing Lab at Auburn University.

Click here for pictures.

July 30, 2008
Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
Dr. Juan Gilbert from Auburn University's Computer Science department and R. Doug Lewis, the director of The Election Center, both testified before the Senate on July 30. To see video or read their statements, please visit:
http://rules.senate.gov/hearings/2008/073008s3212.htm

May 22, 2008
Auburn's Master of Public Administration Program Ranks in Top 25% of Public Affairs Programs

U.S. News and World Report ranks Auburn #57 among the nation's public affairs master's programs. Auburn's program is also #1 in the state and #2 in the Southeastern Conference. To see the full rankings and for information on the methodology, visit http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/pad/search.

February 26, 2008
Charles Wesley Edwards, Sr., Endowed Lecture

On February 26, 2008, R. Doug Lewis, the executive director of The Election Center, gave a lecture titled, “Election Administration’s Role in Preserving and Promoting Democracy.” The lecture was sponsored by the Charles Wesley Edwards, Sr., Endowment and was supported by the College of Liberal Arts.

The Election Center is a nonprofit organization located in Houston, Texas, that provides the nation’s only certification program for election and voter registration officials.

Doug Lewis also spoke to a political science class, ate lunch with students in the Master of Public Administration program, and answered students’ questions at a reception following the lecture.

More information about The Election Center is available at www.electioncenter.org.

Click here for pictures.

January-February 2008
Presidential Election 2008: The Iowa Caucuses and the California Primary

In 2007, the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office invited faculty in Auburn University’s Election Administration Program to observe the Iowa caucuses. The day after the 2008 New Year, Dean Anna Gramberg and faculty arrived in Des Moines in the midst of national and international media covering history in the making. More Americans than ever turned out for the Iowa caucuses, and the presidential debates that preceded and followed them attracted record-breaking audience ratings. Watching the caucus process in person, meeting presidential candidates, interacting with political activists from all over the country, touring the state capitol, and meeting with election officials to learn about the caucus process was exciting and energizing for all involved in the Auburn faculty. Dean Gramberg was convinced that taking students “behind the scenes” to observe a hotly contested election would be a way to engage students and teach them a civics lesson that they would never forget.

For the Super Tuesday presidential thriller, Dean Anna Gramberg provided the resources to send ten College of Liberal Arts students and two faculty to Sacramento, California, for four days to get a civic lesson in how elections are conducted, to receive poll worker training, to observe the actual ballots being counted, and to learn how the process works from ballot design to certification of the vote tally. During the trip, the students also toured the state capitol, visited candidate campaign headquarters, observed voting at various precincts, and watched and discussed the election returns as they came in over the air waves. The enthusiasm and the desire to learn more about the election process increased with each activity on the trip. Although students returned home exhausted, they were eager to share their impressions on their Facebook pages and to express their gratitude to the dean for sending them on the trip.

A sampling of comments from students:

“I can wholeheartedly admit that I’ve never been a part of anything like the Sacramento trip before. Whether it was the opportunity to speak with knowledgeable election officials, the accommodations, or the in-depth conversations, I constantly felt like I was in a dream of some sort. I have been following this election so closely and with so much vigor that it seemed like actually getting to observe the process in a delegate-rich state like California was too good to be true.” Christopher McCauley, MPA student

“In the three and a half years I have been in Auburn, it has been the highlight of my experience.” Eden Sears, senior, political science

“The trip was very educational and exciting, and it really helped me see how my coursework translates into the ‘real world.’ It was definitely one of the most memorable experiences of my academic career.” Brigitte Demasi, MPA student

“I know that everyone had a fabulous time, and it was quite the informative experience (even for me, and I’m from California)! I can honestly say that this trip opened my eyes to a possible future career." Jeff Mustin, senior, public administration

Click here for pictures.