Thomas Barton

BA, Politics and International Relations with Quantitative Reserach, University of Kent, 2016-2019.

MSc, Elections, Campiagns and Democracy, Royal Holloway, 2019-2020 

I am a PhD student in Politics, funded by the ESRC (SeNSS). I hold a BA (Hons) in Politics and International Relations with Quantitative Research from the University of Kent and a MSc in Elections, Campaigns and Democracy from Royal Holloway.

My PhD focuses on the impact of Voter Identification laws on election turnout and perceptions of democratic integrity. This research aims to create a comparative database of Voter ID laws around the world and bring greater understanding to an issue that gains much focus in the USA but very little throughout the rest of the world. In addition, I aim to better understand how ID laws relate to turnout, the elite motivations and public reaction surrounding new laws, expert and individual perceptions of democratic integrity due to ID laws. How ID laws relate to other electoral rules such as registration laws will also form part of my thesis.

More generally I am interested in elections, public opinion (particularly social values) and quantitative research methods.   

Undergraduate

CR2011: Reserach Methods for Social Scientists (Lab Assistant) 2020-2021

PR2000: Researching Politics and International Relations: Analysis, Design and Practice (Seminar Leader) 2021-present

Postgraduate

PUBL0055: Introduction to Quantitative Methods (Seminar Leader) 2021-2022 (UCL)