The following UC Davis researchers can comment to media on issues before voters in the November 2014 midterm elections.

Political races

A.G. Block, associate director of the UC Center Sacramento and founding director of the center’s public affairs journalism program, can comment broadly on races to be decided in the election. Block reported on California politics and elections for many years as editor of California Journal magazine, and, more recently, as a columnist with Capitol Weekly. He is the co-editor and principal author of four editions of “The California Political Almanac,” as well as co-editor of six editions of the “California Politics and Government Annual.” Contact: A.G. Block, UC Center Sacramento, (916) 445-7300, agblock@ucdavis.edu.

Leadership and inconsistency

Professor Kim Elsbach of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management studies how organizations, their leaders and individuals acquire and maintain images, identities and reputations. She is the author of the book, "Organizational Perception Management." Elsbach says, "People in Western society do not like inconsistency in their leaders. It's what gets a lot of leaders tripped up. There is so much pressure on leaders to be consistent that it outweighs the need to make the right decision or to be accurate." Contact: Kim Elsbach, Graduate School of Management, (530) 752-0910, kdelsbach@ucdavis.edu.

Partisan politics and presidential elections

Robert Huckfeldt, distinguished professor of political science, is an expert on partisan politics. Huckfeldt is a scholar of public opinion, and participation and voting in national elections. Contact: Robert Huckfeldt, Political Science, director of the Institute of Government Affairs, rhuckfeldt@ucdavis.edu.

Racial and ethnic politics, Latino voting behavior

Brad Jones is a professor of political science whose research focuses on racial and ethnic politics including Latino voting behavior and Latino public opinion as well as voting behavior more generally. He is also an expert on immigration policy and public opinion regarding immigration.  Finally, he can speak to issues regarding polling and survey methodology.  Contact: Brad Jones bsjjones@ucdavis.edu .
 

National energy policy

Amy Myers Jaffe, executive director for energy and sustainability for the Graduate School of Management and the Institute of Transportation Studies, can talk about issues related to U.S. energy policy and U.S. foreign policy as it relates to oil/gas and the Middle East, China, Mexico and Canada. Her research focuses on energy business strategy, energy and the U.S. economy, alternative fuels, the transformational aspects of unconventional oil and gas on American policy and business, and the geopolitics of oil and gas. Contact: Amy Myers Jaffe, (713) 384-9588, abmjaffe@ucdavis.edu.

What influences voting? Polling, lawn signs and issue framing

Research by Alison Ledgerwood, an associate professor of psychology, suggests that neighbors’ lawn signs, public opinion polls and bumper stickers can all affect how people vote in an election, but timing matters -- for instance, poll results will be most influential when an election is still far away, whereas a neighbor's bumper sticker will have a bigger impact as an election draws closer. In other research with colleague Amber Boydstun, assistant professor of political science, she finds that certain ways of talking about an issue or candidate have greater sticking power, so that seemingly trivial wording choices can have a lasting effect on voter opinions. Contact: Alison Ledgerwood, Psychology, (530) 752-4401, aledgerwood@ucdavis.edu.

Who votes?

Mindy Romero is a political sociologist and director of the California Civic Engagement Project, or CCEP, at the UC Davis Center for Regional Change. She can discuss voter representation trends among Latinos, Asians, youth and women. She can also address voting rights and electoral systems, online voter registration and political party representation. 

The CCEP is a civic engagement research and outreach initiative for the state of California. A key focus of the CCEP’s research is to identify racial, ethnic and geographic disparities in voting. The CCEP has a policy brief series examining voter registration and election trends. Recent research includes that on the 2014 California youth vote as well as the first statewide analysis of vote-by-mail use in California. More information on these reports: http://regionalchange.ucdavis.edu/ourwork/projects/ucdavis-ccep. Contact: Mindy Romero, (530) 665-3010, msromero@ucdavis.edu.

Electronic voting and computer security

Matt Bishop, professor of computer science at UC Davis, can discuss security issues around electronic voting systems. Bishop has participated in several reviews of electronic voting systems. He was a co-principal investigator for the California secretary of state's "Top to Bottom Review" of certified voting machines in 2007. He was also a member of the Voting Systems Technology Assessment Advisory Board (California). Bishop co-directs the Computer Security Laboratory at UC Davis, recognized by the National Security Agency as a center of excellence. He wrote the textbook "Computer Security: Art and Science." Contact: Matt Bishop, Computer Science, (530) 752-8060, mabishop@ucdavis.edu.

The initiative process

Law professor Floyd Feeney can talk about issues related to election law and initiatives currently pending on the ballot. He is co-author of two books on initiatives, “Lawmaking by Initiative: Issues, Options and Comparisons” (1998) and “Improving the California Initiative Process: Options for Change” (1992). In 2000-01, he served as legal adviser to the Speaker’s Commission on the California Initiative Process. He also teaches election law. Contact: Floyd Feeney, School of Law, (530) 752-2893, fffeeney@ucdavis.edu.

Analysis of statewide water supplies, infrastructure and delivery

Jay Lund, director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and professor of civil and environmental engineering, can discuss water supply, infrastructure and drought. He has particular expertise in the relationship between Northern California water supply and water deliveries statewide. He wrote CALVIN (California Value Integrated Network), a computer model that analyzes statewide water supplies and delivery, and projects impacts of climate, storage and other changes. Contact: Jay Lund, Center for Watershed Sciences, (530) 752-5671, jrlund@ucdavis.edu.

California’s water quality issues

Randy Dahlgren, professor of soil science biogeochemistry in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, can comment on water quality issues. He helps provide research and technical support for water quality issues throughout Northern California. He studies the hydrological, geochemical and biological interactions related to groundwater and surface water chemistry. Contact: Randy Dahlgren, Land, Air and Water Resources, radahlgren@ucdavis.edu.