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Summary: This document presents the results of GAO's 2005 Survey of Local Election Jurisdictions. The purpose of the survey was to collect nationwide information on a range of election topics that included voter registration, absentee voting, early voting, poll workers, polling places, voter education, voting methods and systems, Election Day activities, provisional voting, and vote counting. We surveyed a random probability sample of 788 local election jurisdictions nationwide, stratified by population. In stratifying our nationwide sample, we grouped local election jurisdictions by their 2000 U.S. Census population--small jurisdictions (less than 10,000), medium jurisdictions (10,000 to 100,000), and large jurisdictions (more than 100,000). In all, we received 632 usable questionnaires for an overall response rate of 80 percent. The response rate according to our groupings of jurisdictions by size was 72 percent for large jurisdictions, 82 percent for medium jurisdictions, and 83 percent for small jurisdictions. When reviewing the results of this survey, it is important to consider that two types of estimates may be shown. For example, some estimates represent local election jurisdictions nationwide, and others represent subgroups of the nationwide sample, such as the subgroup of local election jurisdictions that bought or leased new voting equipment since the November 2000 general election. Estimates are now shown for closed-ended questions where the 95% confidence interval exceeds +20 percentage points or -20 percentage points. A more detailed discussion of our scope and methodology and a discussion of the summary of selected survey results are contained in our report entitled Elections: The Nation's Evolving Election System as Reflected in the November 2004 General Election GAO-06-450. In addition to conducting this survey of local election jurisdictions, we also conducted a survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The results of our state survey can be accessed by clicking on the following link: GAO-06-451SP. We conducted our mail survey of local election jurisdictions from mid-August 2005 to mid-December 2005. We conducted our work between March 2005 and February 2006 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
