“Elections matter for so many reasons – not least for an orderly transfer of power, and for citizens to reflect on, interact with, and directly affect their state institutions. The performance of electoral management bodies can make the difference between an election that is accepted with an orderly transition of power, or an election result that is challenged with ensuing problems of violence or societal instability. This ground-breaking study is the first to give election management the serious scholarly attention it rightly deserves. Toby James’ insights on organising elections will provide valuable evidence-based advice for policy makers and election practitioners alike.” – Therese Pearce Laanela, Head of Electoral Processes, International IDEA “In Comparative Electoral Management Toby James provides an in-depth comparative analysis of one of the core administrative functions of democracy. Rich in data and innovative conceptualisation, the book draws on insights from a variety of disciplines to address a topic, the urgency of which is rapidly becoming apparent to citizens the world over. The result is a highly informed and perceptive analysis of how elections are run and how they might be improved.” – Sarah Birch, King’s College London, UK “Toby James demonstrates very convincingly in this major book that electoral management matters a lot for the quality of elections and for how reliable election results are as a reflection of the electorate’s intentions. Comparative Electoral Management is, therefore, a book that will be of great value for at least three audiences: students of elections, electoral practitioners, and – hopefully – politicians interested in the improvement of the quality of elections and electoral administration in their country.” – Jørgen Elklit, Aarhus University, Denmark Comparative Electoral Management This book offers the first comparative monograph on the management of elections. The book defines electoral management as a new, inter-disciplinary area and advances a realist sociological approach to study it. A series of new, original frameworks are introduced, including the PROSeS framework, which can be used by academics and practitioners around the world to evaluate electoral management quality. A networked governance approach is also introduced to understand the full range of collaborative actors involved in delivering elections, including civil society and the international community. Finally, the book evaluates some of the policy instruments used to improve the integrity of elections, including voter registration reform, training and the funding of elections. Extensive mixed methods are used throughout including thematic analysis of interviews, (auto-) ethnography, comparative historical analysis and cross-national and national surveys of electoral officials. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners interested and involved in electoral integrity and elections, and more broadly to comparative politics, public administration, international relations and democracy studies. Toby S. James is a Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of East Anglia, UK. Routledge Studies in Elections, Democracy and Autocracy Series editors: Pippa Norris Harvard University, USA, and the University of Sydney, Australia Carolien van Ham The University of New South Wales, Australia. This series addresses the quality of elections, how and why electoral contests fall short of international standards, and the implications of flawed elections for democracy and autocracy. The series is published in association with the Electoral Integrity Project. Election Administration and the Politics of Voter Access Kevin Pallister Electoral Rights in Europe Advances and Challenges Edited by Helen Hardman and Brice Dickson Electoral Integrity and Political Regimes Actors, Strategies and Consequences Edited by Holly Ann Garnett and Margarita Zavadskaya State Capacity, Economic Control, and Authoritarian Elections Merete Seeberg Comparative Electoral Management Performance, Networks and Instruments Toby S. James Comparative Electoral Management Performance, Networks and Instruments Toby S. James First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Toby S. James The right of Toby S. James to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. With the exception of Chapter 1 and Chapter 4, no part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Chapter 1 and Chapter 4 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution- Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: James, Toby S., 1979– author. Title: Comparative electoral management : performance, networks, and instruments / Toby S. James. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. | Series: Routledge studies in elections, democracy, and autocracy | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019027849 (print) | LCCN 2019027850 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138682412 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315545172 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Elections—Management. | Elections—Corrupt practices. | Election monitoring. Classification: LCC JF1001 .J289 2020 (print) | LCC JF1001 (ebook) | DDC 324.6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027849 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027850 ISBN: 978-1-138-68241-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-54517-2 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of illustrations ix Preface and acknowledgements xii PART I Foundations 1 1 Introduction 3 2 A realist sociological approach 18 PART II Performance 31 3 Existing concepts and evidence 33 4 Evaluating electoral management performance: the PROSeS framework 59 PART III Networks 87 5 Electoral management governance networks 89 6 UK electoral management governance networks 104 7 Comparative electoral management governance networks 125 8 International electoral management governance networks 160 viii Contents PART IV Instruments 197 9 Voter registration reform 199 10 Centralisation 221 11 Training and human resource practices 241 12 Austerity and financial investment in electoral management 252 PART V Looking forward 267 13 Conclusions 269 Bibliography 275 Appendix: EMB budget sizes 307 Index 311 Illustrations Figures 1.1 The performance of electoral authorities in national elections held worldwide in between 2013–2017 and level of democracy 9 1.2 The performance of electoral authorities in national elections held worldwide in between 2013–2017 and GDP per capita 11 1.3 The performance of electoral authorities in national elections held worldwide in between 2013–2017 and region 12 1.4 An inter-disciplinary approach to electoral management 14 3.1 Structure and agency in assessing electoral management performance 35 3.2 The ‘fairness’ of electoral officials in 41 countries, 2010–2014 50 3.3 Global EMB capacity, as measured by V-DEM 8.0 51 4.1 The PROSeS framework 61 4.2 Completeness of the electoral register estimates around the world in 2017 68 4.3 Voter turnout at parliamentary general elections in the UK and Canada 77 4.4 Estimates of the completeness of the electoral register in the UK and Canada, 1945–2015 78 4.5 Percentage of votes cast that are invalid at general elections, 1945–2015 79 5.1 Percentage of the electoral cycle delivered by EMBs in the ELECT and EMS surveys 91 6.1 Three constellations of actors in the UK electoral management governance network 111 7.1 GDP per capita (current US$) 1960–2016 in the four case studies 126 7.2 Comparing the four case studies by the V-DEM Electoral Democracy Index 1900–2017 126 7.3 The frequency of interactions between EMBs and other actors (1–5, 5 is high) 157 7.4 The percentage of idea source for changing electoral law in the last five years 158 8.1 Frequency of appearances for each speaker 181 x Illustrations 9.1 The effects of IER on the completeness of the electoral register 211 9.2 The effects of IER on the costs of running electoral registration 214 9.3 The effect of IER on employee outcomes 216 11.1 The relationship between human resource management and EMB performance 245 12.1 Percentage increases in EMB budget from a non-election year to an election year 256 12.2 Changes in EMB budget size 2011–2016 258 13.1 The direct and indirect effects of electoral administration (and other) reforms 271 Tables 1.1 Foci of study within electoral studies 5 2.1 Three domains of reality in the realist sociological approach 26 3.1 Existing approaches to measuring electoral integrity and management quality 38 4.1 Type of electoral investments needed to ensure high-quality electoral management