election administration

Election administration is the management of the logistics of elections, particularly large democratic elections.{{cite web |title=Election Administration Overview |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/voting-reform/election-administration |date=2023 |author=Brennan Center for Justice |access-date=January 22, 2023}} Common challenges in election administration include long lines at polling places, ensuring equitable access to voting, designing ballots so that voters can understand them as well as possible, ensuring that voters are registered where applicable, counting votes, and correcting vote counting errors as they occur.

How elections are administered varies substantially among democracies. Political institutions can determine the level of centralized control that a federal government exerts over election processes: election administration in the United States is completely decentralized, with thousands of jurisdictions having primary responsibility for administering their own elections,{{cite journal |author1=David C. Kimball |author2=Brady Baybeck |title=Are All Jurisdictions Equal? Size Disparity in Election Administration |journal=Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=130–145 |year=2012 |doi=10.1089/elj.2012.0174}} while elections in India are largely controlled by a federal commission.{{cite journal |first=McMillan |last=Alistair |title=The Election Commission of India and the Regulation and Administration of Electoral Politics |journal=Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=187–201 |year=2012 |doi=10.1089/elj.2011.0134}} Elections may also be fundamentally more difficult to administer in some jurisdictions than in others; for example, larger jurisdictions may require more sophisticated apparatuses for collecting and counting votes.

Elections do not only take place in democracies, so elections also need to be administered in semi-democracies or even autocracies. For example, elections in rural China have required developing the means to prepare and implement elections.{{cite journal |first=Björn |last=Alpermann |title=Institutionalizing Village Governance in China |journal=Journal of Contemporary China |volume=18 |issue=60 |pages=397–409 |year=2009 |doi=10.1080/10670560902770263|s2cid=154282577 }} Especially among semi-democratic cases, one country's election administration might be much better than another's. These variations can happen for democratically legitimate reasons like limited democratic experience in the country or poor funding of election administration, or for less legitimate reasons like attempts to limit voter participation or to not count votes correctly.{{cite journal |author1=Gary Bland |author2=Andrew Green |author3=Toby Moore |title=Measuring the quality of election administration |journal=Democratization |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=358–377 |year=2011 |doi=10.1080/13510347.2011.651352|s2cid=144127095 }}

The Constitution of the United States specifies that each U.S. state sets its own election procedures. The elements of this right were enumerated in Smiley v. Holm (1932), which enabled states to provide a complete code for congressional elections, not only as to times and places, but in relation to notices, registration, supervision of voting, protection of voters, prevention of electoral fraud and corrupt practices, counting of votes, duties of inspectors and canvassers, and making and publication of election returns.{{Cite web |date=October 1931 |title=Smiley v. Holm |url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep285/usrep285355/usrep285355.pdf |access-date=September 19, 2024 |website=Library of Congress}} In practice, this means the states have different policies regarding when and how someone may vote. By 2020, most states offered some form of early in-person voting, and all but five states allowed voters to cast a ballot by mail without an excuse.{{Cite web |last=Flemke |first=Kira |title=The Growing Use of Voting Before Election Day |url=https://electioninnovation.org/research/voting-before-election-day-resources/use-voting-before-election-day/ |access-date=2025-06-09 |website=The Center for Election Innovation & Research |language=en-US}} Several states, often called "all-mail" states, automatically send a mail ballot to every active registered voter before each election.

Election administration is the topic of academic study. An academic journal, the Journal of Election Administration, Research & Practice, is devoted entirely to publishing scholarly papers about election administration.{{cite web |title=Journal of Election Administration, Research & Practice |url=https://www.electioncenter.org/journal-of-election-administration-research-and-practice.php |date=December 2022 |author=National Association of Election Officials |access-date=January 22, 2023}} Election administration is also the subject of numerous education programs. Certifications and graduate degrees in election administration are offered in many countries, including India, the United States, and Italy.{{cite web |url=https://admissions.tiss.edu/view/10/admissions/ma-admissions/masters-in-international-electoral-management-and-/ |title=Masters in International Electoral Management and Practices |publisher=Tata Institute of Social Sciences |year=2023 |access-date=2 April 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.unitar.org/courses-learning-events/individual-learners/master-degree-related-qualifications/master-electoral-policy-and-administration |title=Master in Electoral Policy and Administration |publisher=United Nations Institute for Training and Research |year=2023 |access-date=2 April 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.hhh.umn.edu/certificate-programs/certificate-election-administration |title=Certificate in Election Administration |publisher=University of Minnesota |year=2023 |access-date=2 April 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.santannapisa.it/en/istanza-master/master-electoral-policy-administration-edition-2022-23 |title=Master in Electoral Policy & Administration |publisher=Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies |year=2023 |access-date=2 April 2023}}

The study of election administration is concerned with what features of elections or election administrators make for particularly successful planning and execution of the election.{{cite journal |author1=Kathleen Hale |author2=Christa Daryl Slaton |title=Building Capacity in Election Administration: Local Responses to Complexity and Interdependence |journal=Public Administration Review |volume=68 |issue=5 |pages=839–849 |year=2008 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6210.2008.00925.x}} This may for example depend on the technologies used in the election, like the differences in administering elections in which people vote using hand-marked paper ballots compared to using vote-counting machines.{{cite journal |author1=Robert M. Stein |author2=Greg Vonnahme |author3=Michael Byrne |author4=Daniel Wallach |title=Voting Technology, Election Administration, and Voter Performance |journal=Election Law Journal |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=123–135 |year=2008 |doi=10.1089/elj.2008.7203}} Other common topics of study include the legitimacy of the election process, as well as how the administration of an election affects voters' confidence in the legitimacy of elections.{{cite journal |author1=Lonna Rae Atkeson |author2=Kyle L. Saunders |title=The Effect of Election Administration on Voter Confidence: A Local Matter? |journal=PS: Political Science & Politics |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=655–660 |year=2007 |doi=10.1017/S1049096507071041|s2cid=153378329 }}

The people who administrate elections can also be the topic of study; for example, in the United States, a survey of local election officials tracks the self-reported experiences of local-level election administrators.{{cite web |url=https://evic.reed.edu/leo-survey-summary/ |title=The Democracy Fund/Reed College Survey of Local Election Officials |publisher=Elections & Voting Information Center at Reed College |year=2023 |access-date=2 April 2023}}

• Mohr, Zachary; Kropf, Martha; McGowan, Mary Jo; Pope, JoEllen (2024). A Republic If You Can Afford It: How Much Does it Cost to Administer Elections? Cambridge University Press

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Category:Elections