Virtual Conference – July 5-9 2021:

Delivering Trusted Elections: New Challenges in Electoral Integrity

This online workshop will bring together academics and practitioners to take stock of the new challenges facing electoral integrity, consider emerging challenges, and explore ‘what works’ in delivering trusted elections. Registration has closed at this time.

Programme

Day 1: Monday, July 5th

2pm GMT +1 — Roundtable Discussion: Future Directions in Electoral Integrity Research

• Chair: Toby James (University of East Anglia)

• An introduction to the Electoral Integrity Project, Holly Ann Garnett (Royal Military College, Canada)

• Roundtable discussion with panellists: ‘What should be the future of electoral integrity research?’

  • David Carroll, Director, Democracy Program, Carter Center

  • Roukaya Kasenally, Chairperson, Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa

  • Therese Pearce Laanela, Head of Electoral Processes, International IDEA

  • Pippa Norris, Electoral Integrity Project Founder, Harvard University

  • Chad Vickery, Vice President of Global Strategy and Technical Leadership at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)

2pm EST — Panel 1: Election Fraud & Manipulation

• Chair: Nic Cheeseman (University of Birmingham)

1. New Challenges Threatening Electoral Integrity in Hungary – Melani Barlai (Andrassy University, Budapest), Zsofia Banuta (Unhack Democracy), Elliott Goat (Unhack Democracy)

2. Contentious Elections in Venezuela: democratic backslide amidst a complex humanitarian emergency — Daniela Urosa (Boston College), José Ignacio Hernández G. (Harvard Kennedy School)

3. How Linkage to the West affect Electoral Manipulation — Jaroslav Bílek (University of Hradec Králové)

4. Disguising as Democrats: Origins and Outcomes of Partially Independent EMBs in Dictatorships — Masaaki Higashijima (Tohoku University/University of Michigan), Hidekuni Washida (Toyo University)

5. The Working of Electoral Corruption: The Ekiti model of vote buying — Obinna Amaechi (Coal City University, Nigeria), Daniel Stockemer (University of Ottawa)

6. Analysis of the 2020 presidential elections in Belarus: functions, strategies and the menu of electoral manipulations — Alla Leukavets (University of Tartu)

Day 2: Tuesday, July 6th

2pm GMT+1 — Panel 2: Electoral Management in Difficult Times

• Chair: Carla Luis (Centre for Social Studies, Portugal)

1. Guns or Butter… or Elections? Understanding intertemporal and distributive dimensions of policy choice through the examination of budgetary tradeoffs at the local level — Mary Jo McGowan (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Zachary Mohr (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Martha Kropf (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), JoEllen V. Pope (Research Associate)

2. Authoritarian Electoral Management: Lessons from the 2019 Thai election — Petra Desatova (University of Copenhagen)

3. Leveraging Comparative Data to Improve Planning in Under-Resourced Elections — Staffan Darnolf (International Foundation for Electoral Systems)

4. Electoral Management in A Hyper-Federalized System: The Diverse Population of Local Election Administrators in the United States Election Administration — Paul Gronke (Reed College), Paul Manson (Portland State University), Natalie Adona (Nevada County, CA)

5. Polish Presidential Elections in the Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: a case study — Anna Frydrych-Depka (Nicolaus Copernicus University)

6. Who Votes Early and Why? — Rodney Smith (University of Sydney), Ferran Martinez i Coma (Griffith University)

2pm EST — Panel 3: Electoral Violence, Disputes, and Justice

• Chair: Petra Desatová (University of Copenhagen)

1. Authority or Background Noise? : How Courts Treat International Election Standards  — Dmitry Kurnosov (University of Copenhagen)

2. Overcoming Challenges to Democracy and Governance Programs in Post-Conflict Countries – CEPPS Lessons Learned  — Fernanda Buril (International Foundation for Electoral Systems), Bailey Dinman (International Foundation for Electoral Systems), Chad Vickery (International Foundation for Electoral Systems)

3. Election Disputes in France: Insuring the Integrity of the Contest or Endless By-Elections?  — Joseph Klaver (University of Michigan)

4. Explaining Election Related Violence with Microlevel Data: Evidence from Uganda — Paige Schneider (Sewanee University of the South)

5. Political Determinants of Independent Electoral Courts in Latin America — Victor Hernández-Huerta (CIDE)

Day 3: Wednesday, July 7th

2pm GMT+1 — Panel 4: Informational and Technological Threats to Electoral Integrity

• Chair: Alistair Clark (Newcastle University)

1. Political Participation in Times of Fake News: Rising challenges for elections in Brazil — Andressa Liegi Vieira Costa (University of Lisbon)

2. Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) Impact on Freedom of Expression in Political Campaign and Elections — Armin Rabitsch (University of Innsbruck), Rania Wazir (University of Innsbruck), Thomas Treml (University of Innsbruck)

3. Election Meddling, Citizen Self-Determination, and Remote Algorithmic Interventions  — Jacob Eisler (Southampton Law School)

4. The Effects of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation on Perceptions of Election Fraud and Support for Aggressive Fraud Control Measures — Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau (Royal Military College of Canada), Adelheid Nicol (Royal Military College of Canada), Holly Ann Garnett (Royal Military College of Canada)

5. When Misinformation Turns Toxic: Using Machine Learning to Measure Toxicity in Social Media — Samuel Frantz (George Washington University), Thessalia Merivaki (Mississippi State University), Michael Baldassaro (The Carter Center), Ioannis Ziogas (University of Mississippi)

6. Poll Wars: The effects of pre-election polls on voting behaviour — Stephen Dawson (University of Gothenburg)

2pm EST — Panel 5: Monitoring Electoral Integrity

• Chair: Petra Desatová (University of Copenhagen)

1. Examining the Role of Customary Institutions and Culture in the Resolution of Electoral Conflict in Ghana — Christopher Appiah-Thompson (University of Newcastle), Jim Jose (University of Newcastle), Tod Moore (University of Newcastle)

2. Observing Digital Threats in Election Observation Missions: Lessons Learned — David Carroll (The Carter Center), Sandra Urquiza (The Carter Center), Michael Scholtens (The Carter Center), Daniel Richardson (The Carter Center)

3. Restriction on Election Observations and Voter Turnout:  A Comparative Study — Ikhsan Darmawan (Kent State University)

4. The European Parliament Elections: a challenge for election management — Michael Lidauer (Election-Watch.EU), Armin Rabitsch (Election-Watch.EU)

5. International Elections Observation and the Democratization Process in Africa: The Nigerian Experience — Nicholas Idris Erameh (North West University, Mafikeng, South Africa), Ebenezer Oluwole Oni (Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria)

Day 4: Thursday, July 8th

2pm GMT +1 — Panel 6: Strengthening Electoral Management

• Chair: Nicholas Kerr (University of Florida)

1. Measuring Trust and Evaluating Electoral Management Bodies' Performance — Antoine Vandemoortele (Elections Ontario)

2. Comparative Election Administration: A Legal Perspective on Electoral Institutions — Daniel Tokaji (University of Wisconsin Law School)

3. Biased or Lacking Capacity? The Effect of Election Commissions on Public Confidence — Inken von Borzyskowski (University College London)

4. Protecting Elections: Risk Management, Resilience-building and Crisis Management — Sead Alihodzic (International IDEA)

5. Evaluating Electoral Management Body and Electoral Integrity in Africa — Olugbemiga Afolabi (Obafemi Awolowo University)

6. The Social Construction of Electoral Integrity and the Socio-materiality of Election Administration — Ian Graham (University of Edinburgh)

2pm EST — Panel 7: Regulating Campaign Finance

• Chair: Khushbu Agrawal (International IDEA)

1. Ensuring Integrity in Third-Party Election Spending: the Case of Canada’s New Spending Rules — Cristine de Clercy (University Western Ontario), Valere Gaspard (Western University)

2. The Prohibition of Public Institutional Advertising During the Pre-Election Period in Portugal — Carla Luis (University of Coimbra)

3. The Toothless Tiger: An Overview of the Structural and Partisan Issues that Affect the Federal Election Commission — Karen Sebold (University of Arkansas)

4. Election Campaign Financing: A marginalizing factor on the participation of youth and women in elective politics in Sub Saharan Africa — Philip Gichana (European University Institute)

5. Diversifying Horizontal Clientelism: Private Campaign Funding in the 2019 Elections in Romania — Sergiu Gherghina (University of Glasgow), Claudiu Marian (Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca)

Day 5: Friday, July 9th

2pm GMT +1 — Panel 8: Technology and the Voting Process

• Chair: Leontine Loeber (University of East Anglia)

1. Strengthening Public Confidence Through Risk-Limiting Audits — Carsten Schürmann (University of Copenhagen)

2. Protecting Electronic Pollbooks from Interference — David Levine (The Alliance for Securing Democracy, The German Marshall Fund of the United States), Eddie Perez (OSET Institute)

3. eVoting: Leveraging Blockchain technology for inclusive external voting — Eliane Torres (United Nations University), Soumaya Ben Dhaou (United Nations University)

4. 1 Election, 10 Voters’ Lists: the Experience of Estonia in Integration of Paper and Electronic Voters’ Lists — Iuliia Krivonosova (TalTech University), Robert Krimmer (TalTech University), David Duenas Cid (TalTech University)

5. Signature requirements and ballot access restrictions in popular presidential elections: A global overview and analysis — Philipp Köker (Leibniz University Hannover)

6. Public confidence in e-voting in Ecuador — Régis Dandoy (University of Brussels)

2pm EST — Panel 9: The Registration and Voting Process

• Chair: Iuliia Krivonosova (TalTech University)

1. (Un)common suffrage of the common (homeless) man: Case of Poland — Martyna Hoffman (Nicolaus Copernicus University)

2. Polling Station Size and Electoral Outcomes — Resul Umit (University of Oslo)

3. Early Voting and Electoral Integrity: Voter Turnout and Early Voting During the Covid-19 Pandemic — Toby James (University of East Anglia), Alistair Clark (Newcastle University)

4. Getting to the (North) Polls: Understanding the Why of When Electors arrive at the Polls — Sean Nash (Elections Ontario)

5. Can Local Election Officials Expand the Pool of Registered Voters? The Impact of Face-to-Face, Traditional, and Social Media Tools on Voter Registration — Thessalia Merivaki (Mississippi State University), Mara Suttman-Lea (Connecticut College)

6. Understanding a Key Electoral Tool: A New Dataset on the Global Distribution of Voter Identification Laws — Tom Barton (University of London)

Previous workshops have led to special issues in International Political Science Review (2019), Election Law Journal (2020) and Policy Studies (2020).  Paper givers will have the opportunity to have their papers considered for another edited volume or special issue.

Practical information:

• The ‘ECPR model’ will be used in which paper-givers have been assigned to act as a discussant for another paper. Paper givers have been informed of their ‘buddy’ and will provide supportive feedback over email to reduce Zoom time!

• Links for each sessions will be sent to participants and paper givers shortly before the workshop.