Dr. Daniel A. Smith

Daniel A. Smith is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1994, and his B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa) in History from Penn State University in 1988.

Professor Smith has published more than two dozen scholarly articles on the campaign financing of ballot initiatives and the role of special interests and political parties in direct democracy campaigns. His book with Caroline J. Tolbert, Educated by Initiative: The Effects of Direct Democracy on Citizens and Political Organizations in the American States (University of Michigan Press, 2004), examines the “educative effects” of the initiative process on voter turnout, citizen engagement, and political efficacy, as well as the indirect impact citizen lawmaking has on interest groups and political parties. Smith’s first book, Tax Crusaders and the Politics of Direct Democracy (Routledge, 1998), investigated the financial backing and the populist-sounding rhetoric of three anti-tax ballot initiatives: Proposition 13 in California (1978), Proposition 2 1/2 in Massachusetts (1980), and Amendment 1 in Colorado (1992). He is also the coauthor, with Todd Donovan and Christopher Mooney, of State and Local Politics: Institutions and Reform (Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008).

Professor Smith serves on the Board of Directors of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation (BISCF), a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, and is a member of the Board of Scholars with the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California. Smith served as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Ghana in 2000-01, and has written widely on contemporary Ghanaian politics.

A seasoned observer of ballot initiative campaigns around the country, Professor Smith’s commentary on the initiative process more generally has appeared in or has been heard on numerous news media, including The New York Times, the Economist, USA Today, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, BBC, National Public Radio, Voice of America, and ABC and NBC News. Professor Smith has advised the state legislatures of Colorado and Florida, as well as numerous groups, on the mechanics and politics of the initiative process, and has served as an expert witness in several campaign finance legal cases.