Holly Ann Garnett and Toby S. James (eds) (in press) The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Integrity. New York: Oxford University Press.

Elections are indispensable for the democratic process, yet the quality of elections can vary enormously between and within countries. Elections can often be marred by problems such as disinformation spread on social media, gerrymandered electoral districts, claims of voter fraud, electoral violence and intimidation and low public confidence in voting technology. These concerns about election quality have therefore been central to debates about democratization and democratic backsliding – one of the pressing concerns of our time.

Scholarship over the last ten years has led to enormous advances in defining and measuring this important concept, using the terms “free and fair” elections, “electoral malpractice” (Birch, 2011) and most recently, “electoral integrity”. This work has demonstrated the crucial consequences of electoral integrity for democratic outcomes – from citizen participation and trust in government, to local and global security and peace. Researchers have thus sought to use a variety of academic methods to evaluate how the policies, practices and programmes designed to impact electoral integrity have affected elections around the globe, and advanced or threatened democratic ideals.

The Oxford Handbook on Electoral Integrity is designed to consolidate existing research on electoral integrity for both scholars and practitioners, and launch new research agendas on emerging issues, including the role of emergency preparedness, cyber-security, and civic literacy.  As a field that has expanded and diversified greatly in the past ten years, both among academics and in public discourse, this volume will be a timely contribution to our knowledge of electoral integrity around the globe.  It will be an essential map and tool for academics and practitioners. 

Authors and Chapters

Part I. Conceptualization and Measurement

1.Introduction: Defining Electoral Integrity by Toby S. James (University of East Anglia) and Holly Ann Garnett (Royal Military College of Canada / Queen’s University)

2. Electoral Integrity Research Methodology by Toby S. James (University of East Anglia)

3. Measuring Electoral Integrity Using Expert Data by Juraj Medzihorsky (University of Durham), Brigitte Seim (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Daniel Pemstein (North Dakota State University), and Staffan Lindberg (University of Gothenburg)

4. Public Perceptions of Electoral Integrity by Nicholas Kerr (University of Florida), Bridgett King (University of Kentucky), and Michael Wahman (Michigan State University)

5. Electoral Forensics by Joseph Klaver (University of Passau)

6. Anthropological Perspectives on Elections by Nicholas Martin (University of Zurich)

Part II. Institutions, Law and Governance

7. International Norms, Standards, and Obligations for Electoral Integrity by David Carroll (The Carter Center) and Ian Rebouças Batista (Federal University of Pernambuco/ The Carter Center)

8. Constitutions and Election Laws by Michael Pal (University of Ottawa)

9. International Election Support by Inken von Borzyskowski (University of Oxford) and Daniela Donno (University of Oklahoma)

10. Electoral Management by Toby S. James (University of East Anglia) and Holly Ann Garnett (Royal Military College of Canada / Queen’s University)

11. Electoral Governance by Toby S. James (University of East Anglia) and Khabele Matlosa (African Union Commission/University of Johannesburg)

12. Electoral Systems by Nils-Christian Bormann (Witten/Herdecke University) and Matt Golder (Pennsylvania State University)

13. Principles for Integrity in Electoral Boundary Delimitation by Alejandro Trelles (Brandeis University) and Micah Altman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

14. Electoral Emergency Management by Sead Alihodzic (International IDEA)

Part III. Campaigns and Deliberation

15. Political Candidacy by Jamil Scott (Georgetown University)

16. Electoral Manipulation by Masaaki Higashijima (University of Tokyo)

17. Foreign Meddling by Dov Levin (Hong Kong University)

18. Political Financing by Sam Power (University of Sussex)

19. Electoral Violence by Sarah Birch (Kings College London)

20. Journalism and News Media by Emre Toros (Bilkent University)

21. Regulating Digital Campaigns by Netina Tan (McMaster University)

22. Voter Education by Thessalia Merivaki (Mississippi State University) and Mara Suttman-Lea (Connecticut College)

Part IV. The Voting Process and Participation

23. Electoral Franchise by Claudio López-Guerra (University of Richmond)

24. Compulsory voting by Shane Singh (University of Georgia)

25. Voter (de)mobilization by Myunghoon Kang (Pohang University of Science and Technology) and Chunho Park (Nazarbayev University)

26. Voter Registration by Olugbemiga Samuel Afolabi (Obafemi Awolowo University)

27. Special Voting Arrangements by Miroslav Nemčok (University of Oslo)

28. The Polling Station by Alistair Clark (Newcastle University)

29. Election and Voting Technology by David Dueñas-Cid (Gdansk University of Technology) and Leontine Loeber (Council of State of the Netherlands)

30. Disability and Accessibility by Gustavo Martins Piccolo (Universidade de Araraquara – UNIARA)

31. External Voting by Sebastian Umpierrez de Reguero (Tallinn University) and Regis Dandoy (Universidad San Francisco de Quito)

Part V. Post-Election Remediation

32. International Election Observation by Susan Hyde (University of California, Berkeley) and Tendai Mbanje (University of Pretoria)

33. Citizen Monitors by Max Grömping (Griffiths University)

34. Post-Election Protests by Svitlana Chernykh (Australian National University)

35. Electoral Justice and Dispute Resolution by Gabriela Tarouco (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco) and Rodrigo Martins (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco)

36. Trustworthy Elections by Pippa Norris (Harvard University)