Research Reports – Page 2 – Voting Rights Project

The California Secretary of State’s Office commissioned this research report from the UCLA Voting Rights Project (VRP) to assess the effectiveness of the Voter’s Choice Act (VCA). These reports include data analysis on how voters that speak a primary language other than English cast their ballots during the 2022 Primary Election utilizing VoteCal data and a survey of county accessibility in elections (e.g. translation materials on websites). This analysis includes an aggregated total for all VCA counties combined, as well as an aggregate of combined VCA counties that excludes Los Angeles County. We present an aggregated total that excludes Los Angeles County to prevent the skewing of the findings due to the size of the County.

Included below is the Voter’s Choice Act: Understanding Language Access in Voter’s Choice Act Counties for the 2022 Primary Election and UCLA Voter’s Choice Act (VCA) Report on Race and Ethnicity in the 2022 Primary Election.

Contributors: Matthew Barreto, Lorrie Frasure, Sonni Waknin, Michael Rios, Vivian Alejandre, Michael Herndon, Ananya Hariharan & Diego Casillas

Understanding Language Access in Voter’s Choice Act Counties for the 2022 Primary Election Download

Utilizing Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) on the 2022 Primary Election Voter File Download

This report, commissioned by the California Secretary of State’s office and conducted by the UCLA Voting Rights Project, provides a comprehensive overview of language access and voter participation for language minorities in the fifteen counties that implemented the Voter’s Choice Act (VCA) during the 2020 Primary and General Elections. Appendix B1 focuses on the 2020 Primary Election, while Appendix B2 focuses on the 2020 General Election. Appendix C describes the usage of the methodology, Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG), in conducting its research. Major findings of this report are that turnout rates significantly increased across California counties as a result of more accessible voting by mail and that both non-VCA and VCA counties (excluding Los Angeles) had comparable vote-by-mail usage rates.

Contributors: Matthew Barreto, Michael Rios, Vivian Alejandre & Sonni Waknin

Language Access During the March 2020 Primary Election and General Election Download

Language Access During the November 2020 General Election Download

Utilizing Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) to Improve Our Understanding of California Voter Demographics in Voter’s Choice Act Counties Download