Curtis Gans is presently the Director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate.. He was the co-founder and has been the director for nearly 34 years of the non-partisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. For five years ending January 2011 the Committee became the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University and came with a title of Research Scholar in Residence. As director of the Committee and Center, Gans is an acknowledged ranking expert on voter turnout and participation. On matters of voting, he has become the primary source of information for most newspapers, wire services, news magazines and columnists. His writings have appeared in a number of major publications and he has appeared on various talk shows, including TODAY, Good Morning America, All Things Considered, PBS= Newshour, Morning Edition, CBS Morning and CBS, ABC, and NBC Evening news, Fox News, CNN, BBC, CBC, among others. He has spoken in various capacities on more than 200 college campuses and before political and trade associations. He has testified before Congress on several issues on numerous occasions. His book, Voter Turnout 1788-2009, published by CQ Press, is and will be the seminal reference work on turnout in the United States. For three years, 15 years ago, he wrote a self-syndicated column which appeared in more than 20 newspapers in major urban centers.

In a career that straddles both politics and journalism, Gans is also well known for leading the effort against the re-election of President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 and serving as staff director of the Presidential campaign of Senator Eugene J. McCarthy the following year. He is former member of the Democratic National Policy Council and its Foreign Policy Subcommittee. He has served as a consultant to the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, the National Committee for an Effective Congress, and has also managed political campaigns.

He has also been a newsman for the Miami News, and United Press International and has written numerous articles and reviews for such publications as The Atlantic, Public Opinion, The Washington Monthly, The Nation, The New Republic, Social Policy, The New York Times Book Review, Book World, and the opinion pages and sections of many newspapers. He has also contributed to many books and anthologies.

A 1959 graduate of the University of North Carolina with an A.B. degree in English. Gans is an honorably discharged member of the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

He is an avid baseball fan and is noted for planning his vacations and business travels to coincide with the flights of the St. Louis Cardinals.

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