THE ELECTORAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK

THE ELECTORAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK

elections: an integral element of sustainable human development more countries than ever before are working to build or strengthen democratic governance a sharp increase in the number of elections of a pluralistic nature only a few states in the world do not conduct elections not all elections provide people with a realopportunity to chose their representativesfreely the “credibility”, the meaning, value and legitimacy of elections may vary significantly from case to case: cannot be easily verified “periodic” “free” are often being used subjectively “fair” a growing attention of the world community to the conditions for the holding of elections “genuine”

elections: an integral element of sustainable human development elections are an essential component of democratic governance eradicate extreme poverty and hunger achieve universal primary education and many more X X X citizens participate directly in decisions that affect their lives X X X X reduce child mortality citizens choose their representatives X X X the elected representatives are directly held accountable for results X promote gender equality and empower women X elected governments are conferred the mandate they require for addressing human development challenges X

the “knowledge gap” elections were primarily an internalmatter of states DEMOCRATISATION WAVE C O L D W A R external scrutiny evaluation a wide number of countries undertook steps to reform their electoral systems and processes the field of electoral administration has dramatically grown and changed in scope new critical needs emerged there was a sharp increase in demand for electoral assistance election practitioners have found themselves to confront more and more complex challenges

the “knowledge gap” some countries were largely unprepared to go through major democratic transitions that featured crucial elections governments, electoral institutions, political parties and other governance bodies in most cases did not posses the necessary experienceand knowledge to deliver and guaranteecredible elections electoral institutions and practitioners had virtually no access to comparative knowledge, bestpractices, practical experiences and lessons learned in the field of elections KNOWLEDGE GAP there was no coherent electoral administration methodology, the field lacked of a uniform, codified structure, of common standards and common understanding

the ACE partnership a cooperative effort the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) organizes United Nations Conferences on Global Policy issues and serves as the Secretariat to the Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary bodies address the electoral knowledge gap find and adopt a meaningful solution founded in 1987 as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, IFES has developed and implemented comprehensive, collaborative democracy solutions in more than 100 countries the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), was founded in February 1995. The Institute's overall objective is to promote and advance sustainable democracy world-wide and to improve and consolidate electoral processes the “Instituto Electoral Federal” is a public, independent institution responsible for organizing and overseeing federal elections in Mexico Elections Canada is a Elections Canada is an independent body set up by Parliament, responsible for the conduct of federal general elections, by-elections and referenda

the Administration and Cost of Elections (ACE) Project an information resource covering all aspects of election administration, globally accessible provides information on: available options the administrative and cost implications associated with organising elections detailed procedures alternative solutions is available in three official language versions: English, Spanish and French

goals of the ACE Project provide a complete, accessibleand systematiccollection of information on all aspects relating to the organization of elections widen the range of choices available to electoral policy-makers and administrators and present the costand administrative implicationsof those choices offer structured support and guidanceto election professionals providing advisory assistance to election management bodies world-wide codify thefield of electoral administration, building a uniform language, coherent methodologies and common principles and standards

target audience “ACE is the single most valuable source of new ideas and insights for anyone involved in the design or implementation of electoral processes.” Michael Maley Director Research & International Services, Australian Electoral Commission policy-makers and legislators election administrators “I congratulate you on your superb product! I'm so happy to be able to access such a rich source of information on elections in SPANISH! This website will be invaluable to our work. Thank you very, very much”. Dr.Sonia De Moya Director, U.S. Information Service Library Dominican Republic electoral practitioners “I am familiar with the ACE Project which I believe is an indispensable tool for an election administrator”. Irfan Abdool Rahman Election Commissioner Mauritius members of parliament political party representatives media representatives academics researchers and students the civil society multilateral institutions donor agencies and others

the ACE electronic publication the ACE Project is divided into 12 main themes, or “topic areas” each topic area has a commonsub-structure: index overview guiding principles administrative considerations cost considerations social and political context historical review additional resources

additional resources a collection of electoral sample materials, for comparative purposes, such as: electoral laws electoral forms reports manuals voter education materials ballot papers a collection of case studies on administration of elections, lessons learned and experiences in different countries links to external sites:research, advisory and observer organisations; sites linking to publications; to election information; electoral systems, civic education; etc glossary of electoral terminology

ACE products the ACE Project’s website: www.aceproject.org

ACE products the ACE Project’s CD ROM the ACE Users’ Guide

related products a number of complementary products add new functions and provide additional information to the ACE Project: Election Process Information Collection (EPIC) Project offers comparative information, country by country on how countries actually manage their elections

related products a number of complementary products add new functions and provide additional information to the ACE Project: Election Process Information Collection (EPIC) Project the ACE “Focus On..” series • Elections and Disability • Direct Democracy • E-voting • HIV-AIDS and elections • Gender and Elections • External Voting • Electoral Training

facts and figures more than 8,000 pages of core text partial, unofficial language versions: Arabic, Serbian, Albanian and Russian 644 sample materials from 90 countries 133 case studies from 39 countries more than 500 election-related links to external resources more than 15,000 CD-Roms have been distributed worldwide ACE website traffic has averaged between 700,000 and 1,000,000 hitsper month during early 2005, the ACE Project website has reached an average of approximately 25,000 hits per day ACE users spend an average length of 14 minutes per visit

user sessions: february 2005 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 user traffic website traffic and statistics show that the Spanish language version of the ACE Project has become the most visited and used section 18000 argentina chile colombia costa rica dominican republic ecuador guatemala mexico peru spain venezuela

achievements the ACE Project: a “best practice” in its field a reputable global resource in the field of elections achieving all this required not only considerable collaborative efforts, but also a protracted period of time once the first version of ACE was completed, it was already time to take the project forward new needs and priorities were arising, which were not there when ACE had been initially conceived

the changing needs CREDIBILITY GAP KNOWLEDGE GAP electoral management bodies now face a whole set of different challenges: building the trust of the various stakeholders in the electoral process creating transparent and sustainablesystems and processes electorate political parties the civil society addressing problems of continuity, professional capacity gaps, lack of institutional memory the media observer groups international community solving political, financial and logistical challenges undermining their work and the credibility of the elections

building trust electoral institutions - particularly in emerging democracies - tend to reach levels of professional stagnation get at professional levels in administering elections which they unable to sustain or to develop further election administration loss of credibility in the work of the electoral institution a subject of specialised knowledge and practice transform professional electoral administration low trust in the electoral process enhanced credibility move strengthened public trust

building trust the crucial importance of stakeholders’ confidence in theelectoral process, in theinstitution administering that process and in the way in which that process is administrated trust matters: Ukraine court orders new election run-off to the electoral exerciseper se to the credibility of the government that follows to the legitimacy of the country’s institutions of governance In this context, the ACE partners sought to evaluate the relevance of the ACE Project to address these changing needs ACE could no longer provide all the appropriateresponses to address the new challenges

expanding the ACE partnership full project partners cooperating partners UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life EISA is a non-profit organisation based in South Africa, with the mission to strengthen electoral processes, good governance, human rights and democratic values through research, capacity building, advocacy and other targeted interventions

THE ELECTORAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK KNOWLEDGE DEPOSITORY new vision strategy services lines results-based, global partnership in electoral systems and processes 3 1 2 knowledge services the practitioners’ network capacity development

the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network 1 knowledge services core text:it builds on the overall improvement and updating of the topic areas of the ACE Project, on the introduction of new dynamic functions comparative data: it builds on providing the ability for users to compare how different countries actually manage their elections Country [A] Country [B] electoral system vote counting voter education databases of electoral resources: it builds on expanded databases, systematically collecting and making available a wide range of resource materials from all over the world It builds on the integration of additional existing electoral databases, web-based projects and publications, closely related to the ACE Project

the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network 2 2 the practitioners’ network a “global community of experts” in the field of elections brings together and support a group of individuals sharing common interests and common professional responsibilities THEACE PRACTITIONERS’ NETWORK fulfils important supporting functions for ACE knowledge base it produces relevant knowledge, services and core resources to the ACE Project it disseminates and puts into effective use such knowledge, services and resources the practitioners’ network knowledge services electoral knowledge electoral knowledge provides professional advisory servicesbothto the members of the Practitioners’ Network and to the ACE community of users creates opportunities for face-to-face meetings and global or regional professional development events

submit question browse archive go to forum the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network 2 an help-desk function, offering interactive, online electoral advisory services: users submit questions to the experts of the network and get timely advice Electoral Advice Online Component 1 Get online technical and policy advice on electoral matters an online database, systematically collecting the pool of questions submitted by users and answers generated by the experts, making them available to the ACE global community Component 2 Questions & Answers Browse the archive of previous Questions & Answers a “virtual” meeting place, an online forum where the members of the Practitioners’ Network participate to online discussions and engage in debates Component 3 The Electoral Forum Explore the ACE Community of Electoral Practice

the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network 2 networks the first network of electoral professionals a thematiccommunity composed of sub-networks based on the 12 topic areas of the ACE Project Electoral Systems Legal Framework Elections & Technology Electoral Management Elections Integrity Boundary Delimitation Media and Elections Voter Education Parties & Candidates Voter Registration Vote Counting Voting Operations

the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network 2 the first network of electoral professionals electoral practitioners specialised on a given topic area, who – regardless of where they live and operate in the world - are dealing with the same or similar issues practitioners’ network voter registration it allows its members to be in constant contact and interaction, to rely on each other, break isolation, solve problems and get mutual support HIGHLY COMPUTERISED VOTER REGISTRATION??? thanks!

the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network 2 the second network electoralorganisations and institutions working in the same region, who are familiar with the social, cultural, geographical and historical particularities of this given area collection of resource materials production of case studies exchange of information and know-how mutual support and provision of advisory services creation of opportunities for activities and events

the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network 3 2 capacity development capacity development facility (CDF) long-term capacity development projectsto assist electoral management bodies requiring institution-building support to reach higher levels of professionalisation Component 1 regional training programmes for electoral management bodies wishing to strengthen the professional capacity of their staff Component 2 targeted assistance activitiesfor electoral management bodies requiring assistance in developing or strengthening their policy and legislation frameworks Component 3 capacity development tools and formal educational programmeson electoral administration based on the ACE texts, leading to the awarding of formal certificates/diplomas by academic institutions Component 4

the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network ? next week our Election Commission will participate to Parliamentary Hearing to decide on the introduction of electronic voting machines based on the Indian model with these machines there is no possibility of an invalid or blank vote as a choice for the voter we would urgently like to know your opinion on whether we should include in the machines a blank vote option is a blank vote a voter’s right? do protest votes play an important function? how have other countries having electronic voting systems dealt with such an issue?

? the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network Electoral Advice Online the practitioners’ network NO YES …validation process… Get online technical and policy advice on electoral matters Get online technical and policy advice on electoral matters Electoral Systems Legal Framework Electoral Management Boundary Delimitation Voter Education Voter Registration Voting Operations Parties and Candidates Vote Counting Media and Elections Elections Integrity Elections and Technology

? the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network Electoral Advice Online the practitioners’ network …indexing process… Get online technical and policy advice on electoral matters Elections and Technology Use of electronic voting machines 5 Answers Available Electoral Systems Legal Framework Electoral Management Boundary Delimitation Voter Education To add a few quick comments to the mix. If machines are to be configured in this way, it would be necessary to specify in the law what will be the consequences if (a) "None of the Above" (NOTA) wins an absolute majority (eg NOTA 60%, Party A 25%, Party B 15%); or (b) NOTA wins a plurality but less than 50% (eg NOTA 40%, Party A 35%, Party B 25%). (It has the potential to get messier in preferential and proportional systems (for example, if there are 10 vacancies and NOTA wins a quota, should the number of vacancies to be filled by live candidates drop to 9?). In more democratic systems its effects would be more problematical. My view is that the system should encourage (though not necessarily compel) people to exercise their power to choose. There will always be some people who are genuinely indifferent between the candidates (and they will normally have the option of abstaining), or who feel strongly about lodging a protest vote; but I think that offering NOTA as an explicit option might encourage some people to make a rather glib statement, when they are not really indifferent between the remaining candidates. Michael Let me add a couple of comments to Horatio, and Michael's and others' input. I just returned from observing the US election. In Florida, the ballot not only involved elections for President, Senate and Congress, but also for multiple local offices and for local initiatives. In this kind of situation where would one draw the line on "none of the above" and what would be the criteria for inclusion or exclusion of this option??? Personally I favour the inclusion of the option but choosing it would result in a rejected ballot in order to avoid the complications described. The rejected ballots would then be subdivided into none of the above ballots, and ballots rejected for other reasons. Ron Though the Indian Electronic Voting machines (EVMs) can be programmed to record “NOTA” option (apropos Michael), the reason it is not so recorded lies in the experience of the past. In the FPTP system of India, contest at the provincial level could be quite close. Many times the difference between the winning candidate and the trailing candidate is less then the total invalid votes. In the Indian type of EVM at present there is no scope for an invalid or void vote. But if “NOTA” option were to be introduced, then a large number of those Indian voters who are illiterate, might mistaken it for some candidate and thus cast vote which will essentially be an invalid vote. Moreover, in the absence of a legal provision, a voter can not exercise the NOTA option. Thus in countries where there is no option available at present to exercise this option, there it may not be advisable to introduce this option. Similarly where this option already exists then configuring machines to record NOTA should present no problem. By the way, in India, instead of NOTA option, to show their dissatisfaction and angst with politicians, sometimes all the voters from certain village decide to boycott the elections: a collective exercise of NOTA option!!! I fully agree with Nadia's comment. I just would like to add a specific comment. Almost all the machines I know about allow a blank vote (or undervote, as it is the name in the US jargon). Most of them will inform the voter that s/he is issuing a blank/under vote and ask s/he to ratify the decision to avoid blank votes being issued by mistake. When voting with paper ballots, the inclusion of a box "None of the above" allows differentiating between blank ballots cast by ignorance or mistake from "purposeful" blank ballots, in the sense that the person does not want to vote for any of the available candidates. It is because there is that difference that the inclusion of a specific box "None of the above" makes sense in paper based systems. In the world of machines, if the machine requires a ratification in the case of a blank/under vote, this is the equivalent of including an specific box. The voter has opted by a blank vote after being informed that s/he might be incurring in error. I think that the addition of a specific "none of the above" makes sense in the world of machines only if the machine does not inform the voter in case of blank/under votes. Switzerland has options for blank votes with e-voting, since blank votes are taken into account when it comes to voter turnout. I think the answer is quite simple - wherever a blank vote is a possibility in a country, then it has to be offered with e-voting as well. Vice versa - e-voting should not offer a possibility (i.e. blank vote) that the traditional way of casting a ballot does not offer. All voters should be treated equally. Best, Nadja Voter Registration Voting Operations Parties and Candidates Vote Counting Media and Elections ACE community of users Elections Integrity Elections and Technology

the ACE Project The ElectoralKnowledge Network electoral system reform? THE ELECTORAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK knowledge services a political party representative - or legislator practitioners’ network capacity development

electoral knowledge network welcome to www.aceproject.org what are you looking for ? knowledge services capacity development the practitioners’ network home : about the project : project partners : news, events & activities : contact us

electoral knowledge network welcome to www.aceproject.org what are you looking for ? knowledge services capacity development the practitioners’ network Access the consolidated knowledge base and the professional services in the field of elections provided by the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. ACE Project EPIC Project Electoral Resources Online IFES Democracy Direct The Electoral System Design The Voter Turnout Project The Global Database of Quotas for Women home : about the project : project partners : news, events & activities : contact us

explore the ACE core texts and learn about principlesfor electoral system design and the process of choice

browse through the case studies section, accessing electoral system reform cases from a variety of countries worldwide

access comparative data and compare electoral systems of different countries in the world

get sample materials, such as: electoral laws and constitutions from any country in the world, as well as reports, assessments and articles on electoral system reforms

electoral system reform searching database....

electoral knowledge network welcome to www.aceproject.org what are you looking for ? knowledge services capacity development the practitioners’ network Explore the ACE electoral community of practice, a professional network of practitioners in the field of elections providing a range of interactive and specialised services. Electoral Advice Online Archive of Questions & Answers The Electoral Forum home : about the project : project partners : news, events & activities : contact us

submit technical questions to the Practitioners’ Network, getting timely and professional electoral advice online Electoral Systems Type your question here

THE ELECTORAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK