David Niven

David Niven is an associate professor at the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati, where he teaches American politics and conducts research on voting, representation, and public policy. Niven is the author of several books, including The Politics of Injustice: The Kennedys, The Freedom Rides, and the Electoral Consequences of a Moral Compromise (University of Tennessee Press, 2003), and has published research in numerous journals. He has testified as an expert witness and consulted on gerrymandering cases in state and federal courts and submitted amicus briefs in several voting rights cases. His article on the effect of police presence in polling places on voter turnout, published in Democracy and Security, ranks among the most discussed scholarly papers on the voting experience and has been cited in legislative debates and legal briefs. Niven’s political analysis has been quoted widely including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. Niven is a board member of the Portman Center for Policy Solutions at the University of Cincinnati and a fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center. As a speechwriter, Niven wrote for political and academic leaders including Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, and the Ohio State University President Gordon Gee. Niven has a PhD from the  Ohio State University. 

His Andrew Carnegie Fellows project, “Polling Place Obstacles and the Voting Rights Divide,” looks at the ways some people wait on very long lines to vote while some are in and out in less time than it takes to order a sandwich. Niven’s project explores how our voting experience contributes to polarized views on voting, voting rights, and voting rules.