Wisconsin fares well in a new nationwide study that compares how states administer elections.

The Pew Charitable Trusts crunched election data from 2008 and 2010 and found that Wisconsin was one of the highest performing states in both years. According to the study, Wisconsin ranked number one in the nation in the 2008 election and number eight in 2010.   (study available at http://www.pewstates.org/research/reports/elections-performance-index-85899445029)

David Becker is Director of Election Initiatives at Pew.

"Wisconsin was one of the very high performers. They did exceptionally well across all of the seventeen objective indicators that we looked at in those years. Things like high turnout, high registration rates, very few voter registration problems, election day registration almost certainly played some role on that, low rates of provisional ballots cast and rejected, even high voting voting technology accuracy as it was measured and reported."

Other high performing states include Colorado, Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Washington. Pew says the worst performing states in 2008 and 2010 were Alabama, California, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

Kevin Kennedy, Director of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, says the study reflects well on the state and provides a solid basis for confidence in Wisconsin's elections.