Research

My research interests encompass issues of election administration, political participation, democratic representation, and campaigning, with a geographical focus on Latin America. In particular, I am interested in how institutions of election administration affect political participation and the representation of marginalized groups, the political negotiations that shape election administration rules and institutions, and how electoral campaigns appeal to voters through diverse media. 

My first book, Election Administration and the Politics of Voter Access (Routledge, 2017), examines the origins of election administration practices that facilitate or impede voter participation. It is the first systematic study to investigate why it is easier to vote in some democracies than in others. In the book I develop the concept of election administration inclusiveness, which considers all of the administrative requirements and procedures that a citizen confronts in exercising his or her right to vote. I then draw on field research conducted in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador in 2011 and 2012, and data from Latin America more broadly, to address how political parties and other actors interact in constructing election administration rules and procedures. Using a theoretical framework centered on electoral threat, party capacity, and electoral management body composition, I identify multiple pathways to inclusive and restrictive election administration.

My second book, Elections in Latin America: Campaigns, Voters, and Institutions (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024), is a first-of-its-kind textbook on elections throughout Latin America, including formal electoral institutions, informal practices, and the behavior of voters and candidates. 

My other research has been published in International Journal of Press/Politics, Journal of Politics in Latin America, Latin American Politics and Society, Policy Studies, PS: Political Science & Politics, Revista de Ciencia Política, the Routledge Handbook of Comparative Political Institutions, and Electoral Integrity in America (Oxford University Press, 2018).