Nearly all countries around the world now hold elections at some level, but the quality of those elections often vary. Although there have been many volumes on the role and effects of electoral systems and other aspects of the election, the process of managing the election is often overlooked.

In a special issue of International Political Science Review, my excellent colleagues Holly Ann Garnett, Leontine Loeber, Carolien van Ham and myself set out the new cross national research agenda studying electoral management. We report new data on the structure of the electoral management bodies around the world from the largest ever surveys of these organisations

The introduction to the special issue can be downloaded for free here. Here is the abstract:

Achieving the ideals of electoral democracy depends on well-run elections. Persistent problems of electoral integrity in transitional and established democracies have prompted a burgeoning literature seeking to explain the determinants of electoral integrity around the world. However, the study of the organisations responsible for managing the electoral process has been limited to isolated national case studies. This article opens up an interdisciplinary and international research agenda on the global study of the organisational determinants of electoral integrity. It defines the concept of electoral management and provides a framework to understand how electoral management body (EMB) institutional design, EMB performance and electoral integrity are related. Findings from new data derived from cross-national surveys of EMBs are described, providing new insights into how elections are managed worldwide.

The special issue table of contents is here:

https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ipsa/current

or you can watch the video below