The U.S. Constitution and historical practice leave election administration largely to the states, and state constitutions establish the institutional arrangements and processes that set the broad parameters for elections. However, political parties had a major role in filling in many of the details that have historically defined state elections. Party leaders initiated many of the laws and practices that characterized early elections and influenced the degree to which the states resisted impulses to reform elections. We theorize that a state's party traditions have an enduring impact on its electoral politics and contribute to variations in the experiences of contemporary voters. Using a new dataset, we examine the impact of state party traditions on the frequency of partisan as opposed to nonpartisan elections, the number of ballot propositions, ballot layout, the availability of convenience voting options, and other election features. We also assess the impact of state party traditions on voters' evaluations of their state's parties and elections. The results demonstrate that historical contours of a state's party system have had a substantial impact on election administration and voters' assessments of contemporary elections.
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