One Day Practitioner/Academic Workshop:

Date: Wednesday, September 10th, 2025

Location: Vancouver, BC (exact location TBD)

Co-Conveners: Holly Ann Garnett (RMC/Queens), Nicole Goodman (Brock University), Aengus Bridgeman (McGill University), Chris Tenove (University of British Columbia), Heidi Tworek (University of British Columbia), Mathieu Lavigne (Dartmouth College), Valere Gaspard (University of Ottawa)

Theme: How have new technologies impacted democratic elections? What should be done to enhance election participation and integrity going forward? This one-day workshop will bring together academics and practitioners to discuss the threats and opportunities that new technologies pose to key democratic institutions, in Canada and around the world.

Call for Papers

Deadline for paper proposals (250–500 word abstract): March 31, 2025.

We invite submissions for a one-day workshop focused on the opportunities and challenges that new technologies represent for democratic elections. This workshop seeks to bring together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to explore the intersection of technology, politics, and democracy.  We encourage submissions from a wide range of related disciplines, methodologies, and geographic regions.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

  • The use of technology in election management, including online registration and data management systems, and voting technologies, including electronic voting machines, tabulators, and Internet Voting

  • Election monitoring and reporting

  • Cybersecurity, hacking, and data privacy

  • Mis- and disinformation, online abuse, and political polarization

  • Social media and AI in campaigning, including political advertising and voter targeting

  • The uses and misuses of generative AI in elections and regulatory approaches to AI

  • Media literacy and civic education

  • The digital divide and access to technology, information and services

  • Foreign influence and trust in elections

There are three tracks. For each proposal you may select one or more of the following tracks:

  • Academic Track (General) – We welcome papers related to the workshop theme from any context, country or jurisdiction, using any methodology. These papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of an academic journal (more information forthcoming).

  • Canadian Track – We welcome papers addressing innovations by electoral management bodies, governments, political parties, and civil society in Canada that leverage technology in the electoral process. We are especially interested in the use of technology in sub-national jurisdictions, including provinces, municipalities and Indigenous communities. These papers will be considered for inclusion in a special “State of the Federation” edited volume, which will focus on Canada’s approaches to innovating, implementing, and regulating technology in the elections. In this track we are also interested in practitioner presentations: reflections from practitioners on their experiences, including the opportunities and challenges that new technologies represent for their organization and their response to these challenges.

  • Student Posters – We welcome proposals for poster presentations by undergraduate and master’s level students during the lunch and the closing reception.

Deadlines and process:

  • Deadline for paper proposals (250–500 word abstract): March 31, 2025.

  • Notification of acceptance will be communicated to authors in April 2025.

  • Academic Track and Canadian Tracks only: Deadline for full papers (no more than 10,000 words, including references) to be uploaded on the website ahead of the conference: September 1st, 2025.

  • Conference date: September 10, 2025.

For more information, please visit: https://www.electoralintegrityproject.com/upcoming-events

 

Workshop Sponsors:

Supported by: