Todd Donovan (Ph.D., University of California, Riverside) is a professor of political science at Western Washington University. He teaches state and local politics; American politics, parties, campaigns, and elections; comparative electoral systems; and introductory research methods and statistics. His research interests include direct democracy, election systems and representation, political behavior, subnational politics, and the political economy of local development. He has published extensively in academic journals; written a number of books on direct democracy, elections, institutions, and reform; and has received numerous grants and awards for his work. He is coauthor (with… Christopher Z. Mooney and Daniel A. Smith) of STATE AND LOCAL POLITICS: INSTITUTIONS AND REFORM (?2009) and coauthor (with Ken Hoover) of THE ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC THINKING, also published by Cengage Learning.