On April 7, 2020, Wisconsin held a major election for state positions and presidential preference for both major parties. News reports showed pictures of long lines of voters due to fewer polling locations and suggested that the election may further the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A contact-tracing analysis by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services identified 71 confirmed cases of COVID-19 to in-person voting, but no research has conducted a broader analysis of the extent to which in-person voting increased the number of COVID-19 cases. We use county level data on voting and COVID-19 tests to connect the election to the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We find a statistically and economically significant association between in-person voting and the spread of COVID-19 two to three weeks after the election. Results indicate that on average a 10% difference in in-person voters per polling location between counties is associated with approximately a 17.7% increase in the positive test rate. Further, extrapolation of estimates from the average county suggests that in-person voting was related to approximately 700 more COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin during the weeks following the election, or about 7.7% of the total number of confirmed cases during the five week post-treatment time period studied.

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On April 7, 2020, Wisconsin held its presidential primary election, and news reports showed long lines of voters due to fewer polling locations. We use county‐level variation in voting patterns and weekly county‐level COVID test data to examine whether in‐person voting increased COVID‐19 cases. We find a statistically significant association between in‐person voting density and the spread of COVID‐19 2–3 weeks after the election. In our main results, a 10% increase in in‐person voters per polling location is associated with an 18.4% increase in the COVID‐19 positive test rate 2–3 weeks later.

The 1970s marks one of the most significant decades in the evolution of crimerelated higher education in America. The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) and its Office of Criminal Justice Education and Training (OCJET) played an integral and important part in the development of the field during that period. The story of OCJET, however, is not well known or documented in the literature. This article concerns the influence that OCJET had in addressing important issues of quality and relevance as the field of crime-related studies found its place in academia.

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