First Steps: How Election Reform Fared in 2001

The 2000 presidential election revealed extraordinary flaws in the American electoral process, severely undermining the public's confidence in the fairness and effectiveness of our most fundamental democratic institutions.

Was any progress made to reform the electoral system for the elections that occurred in 2001?

This volume looks at four of the most significant elections that took place in 2001--the statewide elections in New Jersey and Virginia and the local city elections in New York City and Los Angeles to determine what, if anything, has been done to make sure that the process was fair in those jurisdictions.

The results are mixed: the reports on Virginia (by Jon Gould) and Los Angeles (by Thad Hall) reveal that those jurisdictions administered their elections in a fairly effective manner, while the reports on New Jersey (by Ingrid Reed) and New York City (by Ron Hayduk) show that those election systems continue to be plagued by problems.

Jon Gould is assistant professor of government and politics and visiting assistant professor of Law at George Mason University.

Ron Hayduk is professor of political science at City University of New York.

Ingrid Reed is director of the Eagleton New Jersey Project, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University.

Thad Hall is a program officer at The Century Foundation.