UC San Diego Launches Nonpartisan Center to Build Trust in US Elections

Story by:

• Christine Clark- [email protected]
• Inga Kiderra- [email protected]

Topics covered:

• U.S. Elections
• Voter Trust
• Election Transparency
• Democracy

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Trust in elections is the bedrock of democracy. When voters believe ballots are counted fairly and openly, they are more likely to participate, accept outcomes-even when their preferred candidates lose-and continue to engage in the democratic process. But in recent years, that trust has been shaken, and repairing it has become an important focus for public officials and civic leaders across the political spectrum.

The University of California San Diego has received a grant for nearly $2.5 million from the Election Trust Initiativeto launch the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections, a new nonpartisan research hub dedicated to strengthening public confidence in U.S. elections.

The Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections will be co-directed by Thad Kousser, professor in the Department of Political Science in the School of Social Sciences and Lauren Prather, associate professor of political science at the School of Global Policy and Strategy. Over the next four years, they will lead a nationwide effort to build sustained partnerships with election administrators, test new ways to increase transparency and share proven strategies with the goal of growing lasting trust across the political spectrum.

"Trust in elections improved after 2024, but we know how fragile that trust can be," said Kousser. "This center is about finding practical solutions that help election officials build confidence among voters and ensure that trust endures beyond a single election cycle."

Prather emphasized the moment's urgency: "We have a rare opportunity to build trust that lasts. Our research will help ensure Americans' faith in elections is grounded in facts and transparency-not just in who wins or loses."

What the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections Will Do

With support from the grant, UC San Diego researchers will:

• Test transparency initiatives-such as public tours of election facilities, live-streamed ballot counting, audits and ride-alongs with election officials-to evaluate their impact on voter trust.
  
• Evaluate communications strategies that explain election safeguards in clear, accessible ways, with special attention to reaching a broad range of communities through trusted community messengers.
  
• Build national partnerships with election officials, nonprofit organizations and policymakers to ensure findings are applied in practice.
  
• Expand opportunities for new leaders, including postdoctoral fellows and graduate as well as undergraduate students to contribute to an emerging field of election science that seeks to understand how electoral systems work, as well as how to improve their fairness, efficiency and public confidence.

Kousser and Prather are nationally recognized experts on election trust and transparency. Kousser has led multi-university studies on building voter confidence, with findings presented to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and published in leading journals. Prather is the author of "Monitors and Meddlers: How Foreign Actors Influence Local Trust in Elections," winner of the American Political Science Association's Best Book in Foreign Policy Award and has briefed election officials nationwide.

"Public confidence in elections is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy, but we've seen that voters can lose that trust," said Ashley Quarcoo, executive director of the Election Trust Initiative. "The Center for Trusted and Transparent Elections will bring together researchers and election officials to identify proven ways to strengthen voter confidence, regardless of who or what is on the ballot."

Building on UC San Diego's Expertise

The Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections will build on UC San Diego's strong network of political science scholars and national partnerships. It will also draw on the Yankelovich Center for Social Science Research, which Kousser co-directs. The Yankelovich Center has conducted survey experiments tracking changes in voter trust and also has a track record of collaborating with other campus initiatives such as the Future of Democracy Initiative, of which Prather is a member. This expertise will enable the new center to host national convenings, produce accessible research briefs and videos, and continue post-election surveys of trust in 2026 and 2028. A research advisory board-composed of election officials, association leaders and scholars-will help guide the agenda.

The initiative also builds on UC San Diego's extensive partnerships with institutions including the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, Johns Hopkins' Agora Institute and the Elections Group, as well as collaborations with election officials nationwide.

During the past two election cycles, Kousser and Prather have partnered with state and local officials in Texas, Georgia, Colorado, California, Arizona and Connecticut to study their trust-building efforts, and they are building new partnerships in Oregon and Idaho. The research from these studies has been publishedin leading academic journalsand been summarized and sharedbroadly with election officials.

The Election Trust Initiative is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. ETI's founding partners are The Klarman Family Foundation, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Pew, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

The new UC San Diego Center is part of ETI's broader national effortto strengthen confidence in American elections.