How do election scientists define a free and fair election?
What does it mean for an election to be considered free and fair? To start, it involves a tradeoff between accessibility and security.
What can I do to make sure my vote counts on Election Day?
One of the best things you can do is to vote early. Try to vote before Election Day if you can. Given concerns about the speed of mail delivery, consider dropping your absentee or by-mail ballot off in an official drop box if one is available in your area.
Also, take your time. If you vote in-person, make sure you see all of the ballot choices, and that the machine is accurately recording your choices. Whether you vote by mail or in person, always check your ballot before it goes into the tabulation box or before you put it in the envelope—just to make sure you're not making a simple mistake. In our experience it's the simple mistakes that trip voters up: skipping a race or inadvertently marking more candidates than you're allowed to mark in a given race or forgetting to sign your absentee ballot. Often, these simple mistakes can be avoided if you take your time, read the instructions, and check everything twice before returning your ballot.
—R. Michael Alvarez, Flintridge Foundation Professor of Political and Computational Social Science
