Alec C. Ewald

Alec C. Ewald is a political scientist whose research examines the intersection of law, electoral systems, and civic participation, with particular attention to voting rights, democratic inclusion, and the collateral consequences of criminal justice involvement. His work combines empirical analysis and comparative institutional study to illuminate how legal frameworks and administrative practices shape access to democratic processes and political voice.

Ewald earned a B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from Tufts University, an M.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, integrating constitutional law, American politics, and comparative democratic analysis. He is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Vermont, where he teaches courses in public law, constitutional governance, and American politics.

His scholarship spans several interrelated areas: the administration of elections and local voting practices, the rights of individuals with criminal convictions, and comparative perspectives on felony disenfranchisement. His monograph, The Way We Vote: The Local Dimension of American Suffrage (2009), explores how decentralized electoral administration shapes citizen participation, while Criminal Disenfranchisement in an International Perspective (2009, co-edited) provides a comparative analysis of voting rights restrictions and their broader societal consequences.

Ewald’s peer-reviewed articles appear in journals such as Publius, Criminology, Law & Social Inquiry, and Social Science Quarterly, addressing questions of institutional design, democratic resilience, and political inclusion. He is also engaged in public scholarship and civic initiatives, including voter registration and outreach programs for populations affected by criminal-justice policies.

Within the Convisero framework, Alec Ewald exemplifies the democratic-inclusion analyst: a scholar who maps how legal and institutional architectures shape access to political participation. His work elucidates the mechanisms by which governance structures either enable or constrain civic engagement, providing critical insight into the systemic dynamics of democratic access and exclusion.