Advancing Electoral Integrity

Edited by Pippa Norris, Richard W. Frank, and Ferran Martinez i Coma

Authors draw upon a wide range of cases in established democracies such as Britain and the United States, newer democracies in Central and Latin America, and diverse regimes in Africa and the Middle East.
International experts bring new concepts, theories and evidence to illuminate issues of electoral integrity.
Designed to present cutting-edge research in an accessible manner.

Advancing Electoral Integrity

Edited by Pippa Norris, Richard W. Frank, and Ferran Martinez i Coma

Description

Recent decades have seen growing concern about problems of electoral integrity. The most overt malpractices used by rulers include imprisoning dissidents, harassing adversaries, coercing voters, vote-rigging counts, and even blatant disregard for the popular vote. Serious violations of human rights, undermining electoral credibility, are widely condemned by domestic observers and the international community. Recent protests about integrity have mobilized in countries as diverse as Russia, Mexico, and Egypt. Elsewhere minor irregularities are common, exemplified by inaccurate voter registers, maladministration of polling facilities, lack of security in absentee ballots, pro-government media bias, ballot miscounts, and gerrymandering. Long-standing democracies are far from immune to these ills; past problems include the notorious hanging chads in Florida in 2000 and more recent accusations of voter fraud and voter suppression during the Obama-Romney contest.

In response to these developments, there have been growing attempts to analyze flaws in electoral integrity using systematic data from cross-national time-series, forensic analysis, field experiments, case studies, and new instruments monitoring mass and elite perceptions of malpractices. This volume collects essays from international experts who evaluate the robustness, conceptual validity, and reliability of the growing body of evidence. The essays compare alternative approaches and apply these methods to evaluate the quality of elections in several areas, including in the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America.

Advancing Electoral Integrity

Edited by Pippa Norris, Richard W. Frank, and Ferran Martinez i Coma

List of tables and figures
Preface and acknowledgments
Notes about contributors
Introduction
1. Introduction: Challenges of Electoral Integrity, Pippa Norris
When do elections fail? Standards and evidence
2. Assessing Elections, Avery Davies-Roberts and David J. Carroll
3. Methods and Evidence, Pippa Norris, Jørgen Elklit and Andrew Reynolds
4. Expert Judgments, Ferran Martinez i Coma and Richard W. Frank
5. Election Monitoring, Ursula Daxecker and Gerald Schneider
Do Institutions Matter? Managing elections
6. Constitutions and Election Management, Svitlana Chernykh, Zachary Elkins, James Melton and Tom Ginsburg
7. Electoral Management in Central America, Antonio Ugues, Jr.
8. Election Management in Britain, Toby S. James
9. Investing in Electoral Management, Alistair Clark
Does lack of integrity undermine legitimacy?
10. EMB Performance and African Perceptions of Electoral Integrity, Nicholas N. Kerr
11. Electoral Integrity and Democratic Legitimacy in Africa, Robert Mattes
12. Electoral Trust in Latin America, Arturo Maldonado and Mitchell Seligson
13. American Attitudes towards Election Fraud, Thad E. Hall and Charles Stewart
Conclusions: What Is To Be Done? Policy Interventions
14. Lessons From the Ground: What Have We Learnt? What Do We Do Next? Roundtable Discussion with Eric Bjornlund, David Carroll, Staffan Darnolf, Annette Fath-Lihic, Aleida Ferreyra, Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, Pippa Norris, and Chad Vickery
Index

Advancing Electoral Integrity

Edited by Pippa Norris, Richard W. Frank, and Ferran Martinez i Coma

Author Information

Pippa Norris is McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Harvard University. Richard W. Frank is Research Associate at the University of Sydney. Ferran Martinez i Coma is Research Associate at the University of Sydney.

Contributors:

Eric Bjornlund, Democracy International
David J. Carroll, The Carter Center
Alistair Clark, Newcastle University
Svitlana Chernykh, St Antony's College, Oxford
Staffan Darnolf, International Foundation for Electoral Systems
Avery Davis-Roberts, The Carter Center
Ursula Daxecker, University of Amsterdam
Jørgen Elklit, University of Aarhus
Zachary Elkins, University of Texas, Austin
Annette Monika Fath-Lihic, International IDEA
Aleida Ferreyra, UNDP Bureau for Development Policy
Richard W. Frank, University of Sydney
Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago
Thad E. Hall, University of Utah
Toby S. James, University of East Anglia
Nicholas Kerr, University of Alabama
Arturo Maldonado, Vanderbilt University
Ferran Martínez i Coma, University of Sydney
Robert Mattes, University of Cape Town
James Melton, University College London
Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, Organization of American States
Pippa Norris, Harvard University
Andrew Reynolds, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Gerald Schneider, University of Konstanz
Mitchell Seligson, Vanderbilt University
Charles Stewart III, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Antonio Ugues Jr., St. Mary's College of Maryland
Chad Vickery, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Washington DC

Advancing Electoral Integrity

Edited by Pippa Norris, Richard W. Frank, and Ferran Martinez i Coma

Reviews and Awards

"The strength of this volume is its inclusion of both practitioners and scholars and its connection to the Electoral Integrity Index, a real world effort to improve how we think about and assess election quality and - ultimately - political legitimacy. It provides an invaluable set of perspectives for students, scholars and policy makers alike who want to think about what can be done to improve elections around the world." --Judith G. Kelley, Kevin D. Gorter Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Duke University

"With the expansion of democracy around the world, the quality and fairness of elections has come under intense scrutiny. This timely volume brings together an impressive list of international experts on electoral integrity. The results will be of interest to scholars concerned about the conduct and management of elections around the world." --Ian McAllister, Professor of Political Science, Australian National University

"Advancing Electoral Integrity combines real-world and scholarly expertise to advance debates on the quality of elections, democracy, and how we can reform existing institutions to improve electoral integrity around the world." --Susan Hyde, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Yale University

"Advancing Electoral Integrity makes a vital contribution to the study of election quality. The volume provides an impressive tour d'horizon of this exciting new subfield, drawing together work by a variety of scholars working in different subfields as well as practitioners from outside academia. It is a must-read book for all who seek to have a full understanding of how elections work in the contemporary world." --Sarah Birch, Chair of Comparative Politics, University of Glasgow