Electoral research is a field whose methods and challenges are constantly changing and evolving in response to the current environment and research needs. The set of designs, methods, and the palette of studies run by national election study teams is more diverse than ever before. National election studies may be a part of a time series, include a combination of fresh cross sections and panels, interview both respondents and candidates, run experiments, collect and attach administrative data, conduct vote validation, make use of mixed modes of data collection, employ varied sampling and oversampling strategies, and more.
National election studies also have common challenges – among them, declining response rates, shifts in modes of data collection, downward pressure on funding, and changes to the legal landscape. Better sharing of approaches among scholars and their data collection partners would be of benefit to science, quality, and cost efficiency. In rapidly evolving fields, staying abreast of best practices and innovations requires effective and timely methods for the sharing of experiences and information. This is a pressing need for national election studies. It seems clear that sharing of such information among national election studies could be benefitted, and effectively so, by the creation of a knowledge sharing platform. A platform to exchange new ideas, inform and update one another, share efforts, and to collaborate.