Political scientist Daniel Smith recognized for scholarly contributions

University of Florida political scientist Daniel A. Smith, Ph.D., has received the 2026 Career Achievement Award from the State Politics and Policy Section of the American Political Science Association, the discipline’s leading scholarly organization.
The award recognizes a political scientist who has made “a significant lifetime contribution to the study of politics and policy in the American states.”

Smith is a professor and former chair in UF’s Department of Political Science in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. A nationally recognized scholar of voting rights, elections, direct democracy and state politics, Smith has published more than 100 scholarly articles, chapters and reports examining how political institutions shape political behavior and participation.

A past president of the APSA State Politics and Policy Section, Smith’s research has focused on ballot initiatives, election administration, redistricting and voting laws. He has also served as an expert in voting rights litigation in Florida and across the country.

Smith joined the University of Florida faculty in 2003 and served as chair of the Department of Political Science from 2017 to 2024. He earned his doctorate in political science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and previously was a senior Fulbright scholar at the University of Ghana.

The award was presented in June at the annual State Politics and Policy Conference in Chicago.