New Developments in Electoral Integrity Research

Elections are an indispensable part of the democratic process (Dahl 1971). They give citizens an opportunity to elect their representatives, hold governments to account and shape policy making. Yet it is well known there is enormous variation in the quality and inclusiveness of elections around the world (Norris 2014, 2016; Birch 2011; Norris 2013). An electoral cycle approach shows that problems can vary from electoral violence and voter intimidation, vote rigging, gerrymandered electoral districts, incomplete electoral registers, to under-resourced electoral officials and poorly designed adjudication processes, and more. Challenges facing electoral integrity are commonly thought to be intensifying, as illustrated by post-electoral violence in Brazil and the USA, the spread of disinformation online, under-funded electoral authorities, pandemic elections (James, Clark, and Asplund 2023, forthcoming; Garnett and Pal 2022). This Section will therefore bring together the research agenda which is emerging to address conceptual, empirical and policy challenges to electoral integrity. This Section is hosted by the Electoral Integrity Project: https://www.electoralintegrityproject.com/ an independent academic study founded in 2012 to facilitate innovative and policy-relevant research comparing elections worldwide. The people involved in this Section also plan to meet at the Conference, to put together an application for developing an ECPR Standing Group in this field. Bibliography: Birch, Sarah. 2011. Electoral Malpractice (Oxford University Press: Oxford). Dahl, Robert. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition (Yale University Press: New Haven). Garnett, Holly Ann, and Michael Pal (ed.)^(eds.). 2022. Cyber-Threats to Canadian Democracy (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press). James, Toby S., Alistair Clark, and E. Asplund (eds.). 2023, forthcoming. Elections during emergencies and crises: lessons for electoral integrity from the covid-19 pandemic (International IDEA: Stockholm). Norris, Pippa. 2013. 'The new research agenda studying electoral integrity', Electoral Studies, 32: 563-75. ———. 2014. Why Electoral Integrity Matters (Cambridge University Press: New York). ———. 2016. Strengthening Electoral Integrity: What Works? (Cambridge University Press: New York).