The Electoral Management topic area of the ACE Encyclopaedia has been completely re-written since it was first launched. Lead writers for this topic area are Sara Staino and Joram Rukambe, and leading organisation responsible for this the completion of this topic is International IDEA.

Main authors are:

Alan Wall has over 20 years of electoral administration and democracy advisory experience. From 1984 to 1994 he held various senior management positions with the Australian Electoral Commission. He has since managed IFES projects in Azerbaijan in 1999 and in Indonesia between 2000 to 2004, been a senior electoral official for the United Nations in Eastern Slavonia in 1996 and Nigeria in 1998, and was an advisor to the South African government for the local government elections of 1995. During 2005 and 2006 he has directed Democracy International’s local government election support programs in Indonesia. Alan was one of the initial lead writers for the ACE Project.

Sara Staino serves as the lead writer for the Electoral Management topic area of the ACE Encyclopaedia. She is a member of the ACE Project Management Team and the Project Manager for the IDEA ACE Course Correction Team, responsible for the completion and quality control of the four topic areas under IDEA responsibility- Electoral Management, Parties and Candidates, Media and Elections and Electoral Systems. Sara has been a consultant for the Electoral Processes Team of International IDEA since the beginning of 2004, and is the co-author of the International IDEA Handbook on Electoral Management Design. Sara also works part time as a university lecturer in International Relations, as an Election Observer for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and acts as a deputy-chairman of a polling station commission at elections in Sweden. Sara is a graduate of political science of the University of Örebro in Sweden.

Carl W. Dundas is a former Director of Elections in Jamaica (1979-80) and a former Special Adviser (Legal) in the Commonwealth Secretariat, with responsibility for technical assistance in elections matters (1990-2001). Mr Dundas has been an election consultant since 2001, specialising in modernisation of electoral management bodies (EMBs), election legislative schemes and delimitation of electoral districts. He has been the Election Consultant for the European Commission in Liberia (2004 July -October 2005). Carl is a Barrister-at-Law (Gray's Inn) and holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) Degree, London University.

Joram Rukambe is currently Africa Programme Manager for International IDEA, based in Pretoria, South Africa. He served as Senior Programme Officer in the Electoral Processes Team of IDEA for two years before joining the Africa Programme. Joram was Director of Elections and Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission of Namibia from 1998 to 2003. He has served as an election observer, consultant and technical adviser in Africa and has published on elections management especially in South Africa. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Media and Cultural Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and undergraduate degrees in Public Administration and Development Studies from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa.

Andrew Ellis is currently the head of the Electoral Processes Team at International IDEA in Stockholm. He has wide experience as a technical adviser on electoral and institutional matters in democratic transitions. He acted as senior adviser for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Indonesia from 1999 to 2003, working with members of the Indonesian legislature on constitutional amendment and reform of electoral and political laws, and with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and political commentators. His other recent assignments include acting as chief technical adviser to the Palestinian Election Commission under the European Commission’s support for all aspects of the preparation of the first Palestinian elections in 1996, and design and planning for the Commission’s electoral assistance programme in Cambodia for the 1998 elections. Andrew is the co-author of the New International IDEA Handbook on Electoral System Design.

Ayman Ayoub specializes in programmes of electoral assistance, legal and judicial reform. A Spanish lawyer of Syrian origin, Ayoub's work for the last 12 years has primarily focussed on the provision of specialised assistance services for democratisation processes in transitional and post conflict countries, including the Middle East, West Africa, East Europe and South East Asia for the European Commission, the United Nations and other organisations.

The lead writers would like to express special thanks to:

Linda Ederberg worked as an ACE Research Assistant at International IDEA during 2005 and 2006 and was responsible for uploading, reviewing and editing the Electoral Management topic area files. Linda has finished her studies in political science, psychology, German literature and linguistics at University of Heidelberg, Germany and NUI Galway, Ireland, and graduated as M.A in July 2005. During the studies, she had a part-time employment as student employee in a research project at the political science department and as assistant teacher (tutor) to lectures in international relations and European politics.

Ray Kennedy was contracted by International IDEA to assess the quality and edit the Electoral Management topic area. Ray is a senior election consultant and has worked on many UN assissted elections. He was a Director of Information Resources at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1990, he was Coordinator of the Center of Brazilian Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced Studies (SAIS) from 1983-1989.

Marie Hohwu-Christensen was an intern at International IDEA the fall of 2005. She contributed to this topic by uploading Electoral Management files to the ACE database.