IMPROVING ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT: THE ORGANISATIONAL DETERMINANTS OF ELECTORAL INTEGRITY Dr. Toby S. James and Mrs Leontine Loeber School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies University of East Anglia

1.Who are we? 2.What we know about Electoral Management Boards 3.The proposal: a survey of personnel 4.How this can help Electoral Management Boards 5.Our request for help 2 Overview

3 Who are we? Dr. Toby JamesSenior Lecturer, University of East Anglia, UK Leontine LoeberPhD Candidate, University of East Anglia, UK Holly Ann Garnett PhD Candidate, McGill University, Canada Dr. Carolien van Ham Lecturer, University New South Wales, Australia Dr. Alistair ClarkSenior Lecturer, Newcastle University, UK.

VARIATION IN ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT BOARD PERFORMANCE While many elections are conducted across the world to very high standards, it is an enormous logistical task. It is no surprise that there is variation in the quality of electoral management board delivery. Electoral Authorities performance (2013-5) and GDP per capita (2011). Source: Author based on Perceptions of Electoral Integrity Database

WHAT DO WE KNOW? 5 What works? Independence (Birch, 2013, Norris, 2015, van Ham and Lindberg, 2015) Use of performance monitoring (James, 2013) Funding (Clark 2014, James 2014) New challenges (James, 2014) Limited data on EMBS: International IDEA classifications Surveys of electoral officials in the UK and USA, but no cross- national comparisons.

EXPLAINING ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE The following might be important: Capacity. What resources do EMBs have? Where are the resources spent Personnel and management. How long have staff been in their post? What qualifications and training do they have? Job satisfaction? Autonomy. To what extent are EMBs formally independent of government? EMB institutional design Capacity Personnel and Management Tools Network structure Autonomy EMB performance Impartiality Transparency Efficiency Outcomes Election integrity Citizen confidence in elections Political actors confidence in elections Legitimacy

Our proposal Two surveys 1.A structural survey of one senior official in each EMB: The organisational design of the EMB The volume of staff The tasks and responsibilities of the EMB The decision making process within the EMB The budget and resources of the EMB The EMBs involvement with the international community 2.An online survey of all personnel, to identify: Role within the EMB Perceptions of the quality of elections in their own country Perceptions of the human resource practices and their workplace Training and professional development Demographic information

WHAT WE PROVIDE EMBS 8 A free, electronic policy report with recommendations for ‘best practice’ for all EMBs Bespoke, confidential advice will be offered to partner EMBs on request. Presentations at subsequent Conferences of the European Electoral Management Bodies

THE HELP WE NEED 9 We kindly request that each European EMB: Nominates a survey facilitator within their organisation to circulate an online link to the survey. Nominates one senior individual to complete the structural survey. Assist and advise on survey translation, where necessary.

NEXT STEPS 10 Jan 2016: Piloting of survey technology and method in the UK Apr 2016: Feedback welcome May 2016: Survey facilitator nomination Jun-Dec 2016: Survey circulationEarly 2017: Analysis and Write up

FEEDBACK WELCOME 11 What do you think about the survey questions? Can you foresee any potential problems? Should we release the anonymised data (our inclination is not to). My

Select References 12 Birch, Sarah Electoral Malpractice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Clark, Alistair "Investing in Electoral Integrity." In Advancing Electoral Integrity, edited by Pippa Norris, Richard Frank and Ferran Matinez I Coma. New York: Oxford University Press. Garnett, Holly Ann "Election Management Bodies, Confidence and Voter Turnout.“ Paper prepared for 2014 pre-IPSA Workshop Citizens, Parties, and Electoral Contexts, Montreal. James, Toby S "Fixing failures of U.K. electoral management." Electoral Studies, 32, (4), p James, Toby S "Electoral Management in Britain." In Advancing Electoral Integrity, edited by Pippa Norris, Richard Frank and Ferran Matinez I Coma. New York: Oxford University Press. James, Toby S. forthcoming. Comparative Electoral Management: Performance, Networks and Instruments. London and New York: Routledge. Norris, Pippa Why Elections Fail. New York: Cambridge University Press. van Ham, Carolien, and Staffan Lindberg "When Guardians Matter Most: Exploring the Conditions Under Which Electoral Management Body Institutional Design Affects Election Integrity." Irish Political Studies, 30, (4), p

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