This research examines the structure of the Federal Election Commission in light of criticism that the agency is often unable to achieve its mission because of deadlocked votes, in which matters of law of regulation may be left unresolved. This report asks whether deadlocks are as common as popular wisdom suggests and whether deadlocks fall along party lines. It concludes that although deadlocked votes do occur, they represent a minority of the agency’s votes during the period covered under the study. The study also notes that the issues on which deadlocks occurred often features staunch disagreement among Commissioners and reflected unsettled positions on some major policy questions.