Science, Trust, and the June 2nd Primary: A Deep Dive into Election Transparency and Reform

Please join us on Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at 11:00 am Pacific for the next episode of Election Science Office Hours, a webinar series presented by the Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy and moderated by R. Michael Alvarez, PhD, Flintridge Foundation Professor of Political and Computational Social Science at Caltech and Co-Director, Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy (LCSSP).

During this episode of Election Science Office Hours, Professor Alvarez’s guest will be Thad Kousser, Professor of Political Science at UC San Diego.

Professors Alvarez and Kousser will talk about the launch of the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections at UC San Diego, misinformation and trust research, and the California June primary.

Thad Kousser is an associate professor of political science at UC San Diego, where he studies American state and national politics, voting reforms, direct democracy, and how politicians use social media. He has been a visiting professor at Stanford University, a Flinders Fulbright Distinguished Chair at Flinders University in Australia, and has received UCSD’s Academic Senate’s Distinguished Teaching Award. Professor Kousser has authored or edited several books, including "The Logic of American Politics" and "Term Limits and the Dismantling of State Legislative Professionalism." He has also worked as a staff assistant in the California, New Mexico, and United States Senates and comments on American politics for various media outlets such as NPR, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Politico, and the Los Angeles Times.

Register in advance for this meeting: https://caltech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0G8W18sCQ7m2gk4C1iMHvQ.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

For more information, please contact Sabrina Hameister by phone at 626-395-4228 or by email at sboschet@caltech.edu.