State Democracy Reform RAs will conduct qualitative and quantitative research on states that have rapidly improved the quality of their democracies over the past two decades. They will collect information from newspapers, journals, and books to help construct narratives of states' adoption of reforms that make voting easier, reduce or eliminate partisan gerrymandering, and improve election administration; and they will collect data from tax records, websites, and politics databases to shed light on which actors were likely involved in making these reforms happen.
Supervisor: Jesse Rhodes
Contact Email: jrhodes@polsci.umass.edu
Prerequisites: State Democracy Reform RAs must have an excellent academic record, as well as a short letter of recommendation from a faculty member (or have previously worked with me). They should have previous experience conducting research. Working knowledge of how to use library databases and database software like Microsoft Excel is a very strong plus.
Application instructions: Interested students should contact me by email at jrhodes@polsci.umass.edu with an expression of interest, a copy of their CV, and a short letter of recommendation from a faculty member. I will then schedule an interview with qualified students.