This topic covers the many matters related to the standards and challenges of electoral integrity. Democratic principles, measures and mechanisms are considered for each stage of the election process, including electoral management, voting procedure, boundary delimitation, voter education and registration, party/candidate registration, campaigns, media, political financing, vote counting, as well as enforcement.
The topic area of Electoral Integrity was originally written by Ms. Sue Nelson in 1997. Ms. Agnieszka Dobrzynska updated and expanded the topic for the second version of the ACE Encyclopaedia, which was published in 2006. Subsequently in 2012, at the request of the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD), Dr. Daniel Finn drafted extensive revisions in connection with 3rd version of the Encyclopaedia authorized by the ACE partner organizations in 2011.
Dr. Finn is an attorney and consultant on International Law and Public Affairs. Since 1993 he has worked mainly on democracy and governance projects, including electoral assistance and monitoring. Dr. Finn has authored numerous election-related documents, including compilations of international electoral commitments, standards and best practices. Previously he served as an attorney for US Congressional committees, a Federal agency and a State Supreme Court.
Agnieszka Dobrzynska was a postdoctoral fellow with the Canada Research Chair in Electoral Studies at the Université de Montréal. Her Ph.D. thesis (Université de Montréal, 2002) focused on the role of the media in electoral campaigns. Her research interests include elections and voting behaviour, public opinion, media coverage of politics, electoral systems and methodology. Her main postdoctoral project examines the impact of the media coverage on political engagement and cynicism in Canada.
Sue Nelson had nearly twenty-five years of experience managing international assistance projects and democracy and governance programs and is an independent consultant advising on governance, integrity, electoral assistance and electoral observation matters.
In connection with the previous revision of the ACE Encyclopedia, IFES Senior Program Specialist Jeffrey Carlson coordinated a team of practitioners from the New York City Campaign Finance Board - Executive Director Nicole Gordon, Tara Malloy, and Tanya Domi - and an independent expert, Bob Dahl. With the support of USAID funding, this group team provided contributions in the area of political finance related to electoral integrity.
