Surprise: This new index shows that U.S. elections were better run in 2016 than in 2012.

Since Nov. 8, 2016, Americans have been debating the integrity of President Trump’s election. But whether or not Russia illicitly influenced the voting, a newly released report from the Elections Performance Index shows that actual election administration improved from 2012 to 2016.

It usually doesn’t make the news when bureaucratic structures — like the ones that enable efficient access to the polls — function as they should. But this news is important. The near-constitutional crisis of 2000 revolved around routine issues of election administration — which ballots to include in the count and how to interpret ambiguous voter marks.

Let’s examine what we measured — and how we did it. CONT.

Charles Stewart III (MIT), Monkey Cage