Lisa Bryant, Ph.D.
lbryant@csufresno.edu
Full Professor
California State University, Fresno
Year of PhD: 2014
Phone: 559-278-7612
Address: 2225 East San Ramon, M/S MF19
City: Fresno, California - 93740
Country: United States
About Me:
Lisa A. Bryant is a Professor of Political Science at California State University, Fresn. Her research focuses on election administration, political behavior/voter behavior, campaigns and elections, public opinion, gender politics, and political methodology, focusing on experimental and survey research methods. Her work has been published in several journals including American Politics Research, Political Behavior, Electoral Studies, Electoral Behavior, and Publius: The Journal of Federalism.
In 2024, Dr. Bryant was selected as an Andrew Carnegie Fellow (https://www.carnegie.org/awards/honoree/lisa-a-bryant/) by the Carnegie Corporation of NY and is currently researching how election skepticism has influenced election administration and election officials.
Research Interests
Elections, Election Administration, and Voting Behavior
Political Participation
Public Opinion
Race, Ethnicity and Politics
Gender and Politics
Election Administration
Campaigns And Elections
Voter Mobilization
Gender And Representation
Public Opinion
Survey Research
Field Experiments
Survey Experiments
Elections
Election Skepticism/denialism
Vote By Mail
Vote Centers
Election Reforms
Voter Turnout
Countries of Interest
United States
My Research:
The majority of my work focuses on elections, election administration, voter behavior, and public opinion. I also do work on gender and representation, specifically motherhood and how it plays a role in shaping legislative agendas.
Publications:
Journal Articles:
Our study investigates the performance of vote centers in two counties that adopted them in 2020. Vote centers allow voters to cast their ballots at any polling location. These cases offer two different contexts in terms of state legal requirements and oversight. Fresno County adopted vote centers in compliance with the California Voter’s Choice Act, while St. Louis County implemented vote centers without any state guidelines beyond those for traditional in-person voting. In this study, we focus on voter and poll worker awareness and evaluation of vote centers and voter perceptions of the electoral environment and their experience under the vote center model. We find largely positive evaluations and strong preferences for vote centers in both counties. Nevertheless, we observe some key differences in voting experiences reflecting the different local circumstances and legal environments in the two jurisdictions, including differences in wait times and difficulty finding voting locations. While many jurisdictions may wait until state law allows vote centers, this study shows that local election officials can adapt the system to local conditions and implement it successfully without state guidance. These are important considerations given the increasing number of jurisdictions considering vote centers.
Contrary to previous research and press accounts, we find limited evidence that persons who worked the polls in the past, including the 2020 election, are reticent to work in future elections. Our explanation focuses on the motivation and affect persons have to work the polls. Persons who believe their work at the polls is consequential for their community and who feel their work is valued, respected, and well supported are highly motivated to work the polls in future elections. Conflict at the polls with voters and poll watchers, aspects of poll worker training, and collaborations with other poll workers have no appreciable impact on the willingness to work the polls. Only the magnitude and diversity of problems poll workers observed voters had casting their ballots are significant deterrents to working the polls. Our findings identify efficacious steps local election officials can take to recruit and retain persons to work the polls in future elections.
Forthcoming.
Unlike citizens in nearly all other democracies, most U.S. citizens bear the responsibility for registering to vote. We test whether states can help citizens overcome the barriers to registration and turnout using a simple postcard. To do this, we leverage a new program that brings states together to improve the quality of their voter registration rolls and generate lists of eligible but unregistered citizens. Using a unique list of eligible but unregistered citizens from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, we partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of State’s Office to conduct a large-scale voter registration field experiment prior to the 2016 election. We provide new tests of traditional theories related to lowering the costs of registration as well as new theories related to promoting government responsiveness. We find that contact in the form of a single postcard from the Department of State led to a one percentage point increase in registration and a 0.9-point increase in turnout, regardless of the content of the postcard. Registration effects were strongest among young, first-time voters. Importantly, new registrants voted at a rate far exceeding rates found in previous registration drives.
Since the 2000 election, researchers have taken an interest in the role of voter confidence and its importance as an assessment of public trust in electoral outcomes. Many factors may influence voter confidence including the way in which a voter casts their ballot. Previous research has found that absentee voters consistently report the lowest levels of confidence that their votes were counted correctly. This study uses an experiment to examine how voting method impacts voter confidence. Voters were randomly assigned to either an in-person or absentee voting condition. Participants assigned to the absentee condition expressed lower levels of confidence that their votes would be counted correctly than those assigned to the in-person voting condition. Voters who had to ask for assistance during the experiment also reported lower levels of confidence. This could have implications for voter confidence levels nationally as vote-by-mail continues to grow in popularity.
We address the frequent critique that voter registration is a barrier to participation in the US. Institutional reforms to voter registration produce only small impacts on participation. We show the registration barrier can be reduced without changing laws or administrative processes using official communication seeking to change individual political behavior. In collaboration with state election agencies in two states, we conducted large-scale field experiments using low cost postcards aimed at increasing registration among eligible but unregistered citizens. The experiments find statistically and substantively significant effects on registration and turnout in subsequent elections. The research partnership with election officials is unusual and important for understanding electoral participation. Further, the population targeted for registration is broader than prior experiments on voter registration in the US. The results provide important insights about voter registration as a barrier to political participation, plus practical guidance for election officials to reduce this barrier.
Issues and policies pertaining to children and families are often labeled “women’s issues” and assumed to be on the radar of all women, but we argue that they are more salient for mothers, particularly working mothers, than for other women. This study examines the role of motherhood as an identity for women in Congress by looking at the introduction of bills that affect children and families from 1973 through 2013. We define working mothers as women who have children below 18 years of age at home while they are in office, as opposed to those who have adult children or no children. Our findings show that Congressional working mothers are more likely to introduce legislation that address issues specific to parents and children. We also find that legislation specifically dealing with children’s health and welfare is more likely to be introduced by members with children than those without. * Winner Best Paper Published in American Politics Research in 2019.
Book Chapters:
Despite traditional theories of American representation, which present a dyadic relationship between citizens and their individual member of Congress, candidates receive substantial out-of-district donations. One explanation may be that individuals perceive of surrogate representation (Atkeson and Carrillo in Politics & Gender 3:79–101, 2007; Mansbridge in American Political Science Review 97:515–528, 2003; Weissberg in American Political Science Review 72:535–547, 1978) from the out-of-district candidates because of their shared party identification, ideology, gender, race, and/or ethnicity. This chapter seeks to explain individuals’ decisions to contribute to candidates both in and outside of their congressional districts, with a particular focus on women donors. While district competitiveness and party may be two primary explanatory factors, there is reason to expect women donors are more likely to contribute to women candidates and engage in monetary surrogacy. Using federal donation records (2014, 2018, and 2022), our research examines campaign donations to candidates from outside their district, possible conditions for seeking surrogate representation, and the role of both candidate and donor gender.
Teaching statistics with Excel can be quite rewarding. It is much more likely to be used by students beyond the classroom than programs such as SPSS or Stata. Excel offers everything needed to teach introductory-level statistics at the undergraduate level or in an applied graduate program. It is highly accessible to students both on campus and off. It is versatile, offering features such as 3D mapping, and can be used to create dynamic, interactive data dashboards. It is also used in the majority of businesses in the country and is a marketable skill for students. This chapter reflects on my transition to teaching with Excel, reviews some of the benefits and drawbacks of the software, and shares some of the lessons I have learned.
Book Reviews:
Book Review