 Election Laws and Institutions
One of my primary research interests is on the procedures used to organise elections. My research to date has focussed on election administration. My book, Elite Statecraft and Election Administration, will be published in 2012.
What is Election Administration?
Election administration refers to the processes used to compile the electoral register and count and cast votes. It can make a difference to how many people vote, how easy it is to conduct fraud, whether we have confidence in the integrity of elections and sometimes who wins elections.
Many countries have experimented with election administration in recent years. Estonia has recently introduced internet voting, as this promotional video there demonstrates.
Election Administration can affect turnout
I have recently evaluated changes made to election administration in the UK 1997-2007. The lessons of these changes appear to be that election administration can increase turnout, especially in 'second order' election such as local or European elections. All-postal voting appears to be very effective at increasing turnout. This article was published in the Election Law Journal. The article is:
I have developed a continuum onto which different forms of election administration can be placed according to their effect on turnout. This can be consulted by policy-makers around the world to establish methods to increase turnout in their jurisdiction. This was recently published in the journal Representation. The article is:
The Effects of Individual Electoral Registration on British Elections
I have recently given evidence to the UK House of Commons Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform about the likely impact that individual electoral registration will have on elections. Download my evidence here.
I have also written a working paper called 'The Spill-over and Displacement Effects of Implementing Election Administration Reforms: Introducing Individual Electoral Registration in Britain' which gives a comprehensive account of the likely effects of a country moving from household to individual registration. This will soon be published in Parliamentary Affairs. Please contact me for a copy.
When and Why Does Election Administration Change?
I have studied why election administration might change in a democracy. A number of factors are important. These might include technological change and demographic change. But often the interests of politicians is important, as I have demonstrated in recent articles in the journals British Politics and Contemporary Politics.
James, T.S. (2011) 'Only in America? Executive partisan interest and the politics of election administration in Ireland, the UK and the USA', Contemporary Politics, 17(3), September 2011. p.219-240.
I will also report comparative findings in a forthcoming research monograph called Elite Statecraft and Election Administration, to be published by Palgrave Macmillan.
Performance Management and Election Administration
I am currently working on a project which evaluates how performance management mechanisms can affect election administration. This project is funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the McDougall Trust.
This involves interviewing officials who administer elections to understand how the introduction of performance standards effects the functioning of elections.
I explain more about election administration and the project in this video below. Early findings from the project was presented at the Political Studies Annual Conference in Belfast, April 2012 and a workshop on Electoral Integrity in Madrid in July 2012.
Useful Resources
The following sources and organisations provide useful information on Election Administration.
Research Organisations on Election Administration: Organisations that research elections in general:
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