THE QUALITY OF RECORD KEEPING AND RACIAL-DIFFERENCES IN VALIDATED TURNOUT

The election administration studies and the vote validation studies conducted as part of the 1986 and 1988 National Election Studies are employed to determine whether the tendency of blacks more often to overreport voting than whites results from the poor quality of record keeping in election offices where black registration and voting records are maintained. Both objective indicators of record-keeping quality and the subjective assessments by the Survey Research Center field staff are employed. The analysis suggests that the tendency of blacks to overreport voting does not result from inferior record keeping in areas where blacks live.