Dr. Martha Kropf

I’m a Core Faculty member in Charlotte’s Interdisciplinary Public Policy Program

I study Election Science (election conduct and administration), Voting Behavior, and Public Opinion.

Steering Committee Member, Commission on the Future of North Carolina Elections

Kropf Vitae (December 2024)

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      Summary

      The cost of administering elections is an importantly understudied area in election science. This book reports election costs in 48 out of 50 states. It discusses the challenges and opportunities of collecting local election costs. The book then presents the wide variation in cost across the country with the lowest spending states spending a little over $2 per voter and the highest spending almost $20 per voter. The amounts being spent in the state are also examined over the election time period of 2008 – 2016. Economic events like the Great Recession had predictable effects on lowering spending on elections but the patterns are not the same across the different regions of the country. The relationship between spending and election administration outcomes is also explored and finds that the voters’ confidence and perceptions of fraud in elections is associated with the amount spent on election administration.

      Important Election Involvement

      Strengthening Election Infrastructure

      Hey Scholars: Election Science Syllabi

      Read about Election Science:

      UNC Charlotte: Election Science Research & Administration Conference, July 27-29, 2022

      The 2022 Meeting at UNC Charlotte

      Virtual: Election Science Reform & Administration Conference, July 19-21, 2021

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      Books:

      Dr. Martha Kropf is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her Ph.D. is from American University in Washington, DC in Political Science (fields: American Politics and Public Policy). She worked two years at the University of Maryland Survey Research Center (Project Coordinator) and taught at the University of Missouri-Kansas City before coming to UNC Charlotte. Her areas of research include the study of elections and election reform, voting and political mobilization. She has published in the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly and Public Opinion Quarterly. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Aspen Institute.
      Dr. Martha Kropf is Professor of Political Science & Public Administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her Ph.D. is from American University in Washington, DC in Political Science (fields: American Politics, Public Policy and Public Economics). She worked two years at the University of Maryland Survey Research Center (Project Coordinator) and taught at the University of Missouri-Kansas City before coming to UNC Charlotte. Her areas of research include the study of elections and election reform, voting and political mobilization. She has published in the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly and Public Opinion Quarterly. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Aspen Institute.

      Institutions and the Right to Vote in America. 2016. Palgrave.

      Helping America Vote: The Limits of Election Reform, 2012, Routledge (with David C. Kimball).

      Helping America Vote: The Limits of Election Reform (Paperback) book cover

      Courses Taught

      • Introduction to American Politics
      • Voting and Elections
      • Public Opinion
      • Service Learning: Analyzing Elections with Exit Polls
      • Political Science Research Methods
      • Public Policy Process (Ph.D. Level)
      • Research Design for Public Policy (Ph.D. Level)

      Technical Appendices for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Norms of Cooperation, Public Broadcasting and the Collective Action Problem” in Social Science Quarterly, September 2009