2025 Call for Proposals

About the 2025 Conference

The 9th Annual Summer Conference on Election Science, Reform, and Administration (ESRA) will be held in-person from Monday, June 9th to Wednesday, June 11th at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. The conference is interdisciplinary and invites participation from scholars across a variety of fields including political science, public administration, law, public policy, computer science, statistics, engineering and from election administrators.

The purpose of the conference is to engage both election practitioners and scholars alike on pressing topics related to U.S. elections by providing a forum for collaboration and exchange that can stimulate policy evaluation and innovation. Unlike traditional academic conferences, ESRA seeks to facilitate a shared space between academics and election professionals so as to encourage the practical applications of scholarly research in the field.

Topics

We hope that a wide variety of topics will be addressed at the conference. We are particularly interested in new and innovative projects that evaluate the way U.S. elections are currently administered and how they may be reformed. Topics include, but are not limited to:

• voter registration and voter registration files;
• how the quality of election administration affects voter experience and behavior;
• voting mode and voter participation;
• redistricting and its impact on future elections;
• mass opinion as it relates to the conduct of elections in the U.S., including items such as voter confidence, trust and evaluations or on election reform;
• election integrity and transparency;
• electoral systems, including primaries, IRV, RCV, etc.;
• best practices in election administration;
• policy evaluation;
• technology;
• election law and compliance;
• threats, retention, and recruitment of poll workers and election administrators;
• voter access;
• vote by mail;
• the in-person voting experience;
• voter education, information, and engagement.

Proposal Types

Proposals may be for: 

• Individual research papers or presentations
• Roundtables
• Posters
• Full panel proposals

For full panel proposals or roundtables, we are particularly interested in those that combine academic researchers with election administrators.

Additional Information

Please note that the popularity of the ESRA conference means that we may not be able to accommodate all proposals. We expect to announce all decisions by April 1, 2025. 

Further details about this year's conference, including registration information, will be posted on this website. We look forward to reading your proposals!