Most empirical social scientists are surprised that low-level numerical issues in software can have deleterious effects on the estimation process. Statistical analyses that appear to be perfectly successful can be invalidated by concealed numerical problems. We have developed a set of tools,...

We review how the ideological polarization of members of the House of Representatives (elite polarization) is affected by: ● sorting of parties’ incumbents into more ideologically compatible districts, ● replacement of incumbents by more ideologically extreme successors, ● the drawing of...

Redistricting affects directly the translation of votes to seats, and is therefore one of the most politicized procedures within electoral management. Mexico’s approach is unique – since 1996 an independent board has been creating plans algorithmically. Parties, however, are able to...

Voters express varied levels of support for the parties’ candidates depending on where they live, be it in the South (Aldrich 1995; Carmines and Stimson 1989) or rural and urban sub-regions (Gimple and Karns 2006; McKee 2008). This difference is especially pronounced among Whites, leading to varying...

I cross-validate the 2004 general election electorate's demographic profile available from voter registration files, the media consortium's National Election Poll or exit poll, and the Current Population Survey within selected states. I find voter files and Current Population Survey to be in...

Candidates raise substantial sums of money to compete in modern federal elections. Many electoral reform efforts focus on curbing the perceived undue influence of campaign donations by the wealthy. An intriguing new reform direction encourages small donor participation. To understand the...

We identify principles and practices for writing and publishing statistical software with maximum benefit to the scholarly community.

This special volume of the Journal of Statistical Software on political methodology includes 14 papers, with wide-ranging software contributions of political scientists to their own field, and more generally to statistical data analysis in the the social sciences and beyond. Special emphasis is...