Here at Princeton, we are doing research to foster electoral innovation. We investigate ways to make U.S. democracy more responsive to citizens through application of data, math, and law. We work in several domains.

During election years, one of our major projects is the Princeton Election Consortium. We calculate where individual votes are most valuable for affecting the Presidency (4 years), the Senate (6 years), and redistricting (10 years). In 2020, our Moneyball project had the potential to bring about bipartisan redistricting over nearly 100 House seats, over one-fifth of the entire chamber. In 2021, about half our effort went to the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, which does nonpartisan analysis to understand and eliminate partisan gerrymandering at a state-by-state level.

For the coming decade, the strongest route to reforming and strengthening democracy is at a state-by-state level—a federalist approach. High-quality research provides tools to detect offenses and craft bulletproof, bipartisan reform. Tools such as OpenPrecincts.org and Representable.org break down barriers between citizens and those in charge of redistricting. Our redistricting analysis was published widely, and our work was used by legislators and reformers of all communities, without regard to partisan affiliation.

In 2022 and beyond, we are performing scientific research on repairs and improvements to democracy such as voting systems, reduction of polarization, and state- and local-level reform. Our research is useful to reform organizations, legal advocates, and technical partners nationwide.

Current and recent activities include:

• A report card for fair districting, in which we applied quantitative principles of fairness to let reformers evaluate draft maps in real time, before district maps become final.
• Voting systems. Recently, an amicus brief helped protect ranked-choice voting in Maine.
• A conceptual framework for understanding and predicting the systemic consequences of proposed reforms.
• The role of communities of interest in defining where legislative district boundaries should be drawn
• State-level barriers to reform such as courts. As a recent example, we are engaged in understanding the role of courts in supporting fair districting in Wisconsin.

Contributions to support research on electoral innovation are tax deductible.

Ways to give:

Checks should be made payable to “Trustees of Princeton University” and mailed to Sam Wang, Neuroscience Institute, Washington Road, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.

A cover letter should be attached indicating that the gift is “for the exclusive use of Prof. Sam Wang and electoral research.” Please include your email address for a confirmation!

Credit Card gifts can be made using Princeton University’s Make a Gift Online(link is external) portal. Please be sure to include in the “comments” section of the online form that the gift is “For the exclusive use of Prof. Sam Wang and electoral research (PN0019) Account 24400-B0996-FA508”.

Wire Transfers (domestic or international) should be payable in U.S. dollars. Please notify us by email at gerrymander@princeton.edu in advance of your intent to wire funds so that we may provide you with the bank receiving instructions.

For more information on how to structure gifts or bequests, please contact Prof. Sam Wang at (609) 258-0388 or by email at sswang@princeton.edu.

Thank you for your support!