CalTech-MIT/Voting Technology Project (VTP)

Established by Caltech President David Baltimore and MIT President Charles Vest in December 2000 to prevent a recurrence of the problems that threatened the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election. Since establishment, members of the VTP have studied all aspects of the election process, both in the United States and abroad. VTP faculty, research affiliates, and students have written many working papers, published scores of academic articles and books, and worked on a great array of specific projects.

All of this research and policymaking activity seeks to develop better voting technologies, to improve election administration, and to deepen scientific research in these areas.

Since project inception, the VTP has received substantial financial support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Today, members of the VTP are active in:
(*) Developing better voting systems standards and testing practices
(*) Studying and developing novel and improved post-election auditing procedures
(*) Assessing and evaluating the voting experience in federal elections
(*) Examining ways to make the process of voter registration more secure and more accessible
(*) Evaluating methods of voter authentication, and their effects on the election process
(*) Improving voting technologies

These are among some of the current research and policymaking activities of the VTP.