Independent Electoral Commission Code of Conduct for Observers

The Independent Electoral Commission’s Code of Conduct for South African election observers for the 1994 South Africa General Election.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/saelection/1000/thumbnail.jp

South African Elections Manual for International Observers

A manual produced by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for election observers of the 1994 South Africa General Election.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/saelection/1001/thumbnail.jp

E-Voting in an ubicomp world: trust, privacy, and social implications

The advances made in technology have unchained the user from the desktop into interactions where access is anywhere, anytime. In addition, the introduction of ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) will see further changes in how we interact with technology and also socially. Ubicomp evokes a near future in which humans will be surrounded by “always-on,” unobtrusive, interconnected intelligent objects where information is exchanged seamlessly. This seamless exchange of information has vast social implications, in particular the protection and management of personal information. This research project investigates the concepts of trust and privacy issues specifically related to the exchange of e-voting information when using a ubicomp type system

Electoral administration and the problem of poll worker recruitment: Who volunteers, and why?

Elections depend on the thousands of people who give up their time to administer this crucial public service. They staff polling stations and ensure votes are issued, cast and counted. Poll workers are effectively ‘stipended volunteers’, receiving some limited financial compensation, but working for the broader public good. It is important to understand why people choose to give up their time to provide this fundamental public service to their fellow citizens. Using original data from a poll worker survey conducted in the 2015 British general election, this article investigates the motivations and incentives for poll workers volunteering to administer major elections in an important advanced democracy. Exploratory expectations are set out about the motivations of poll workers, and the relationship to their socio-economic characteristics, and levels of social capital and satisfaction with democracy. Contrary to expectations, the findings note that, earning some extra money is important to many, although motivations are more broadly structured around solidary, purposive and material motivations. The article establishes a range of relationships between each set of incentives, and poll workers’ socio-economic, social capital and satisfaction profiles

Cervical screening uptake, political interest and voter turnout: a population-based survey of women in England.

To examine the relationship between cervical screening uptake and political engagement, and to test whether political engagement and voting behaviour mediate the association between age and cervical screening uptake

The effects of centralising electoral management board design

The public administration of elections frequently fails. Variation in the performance of electoral management boards around the world has been demonstrated, illustrated by delays in the count, inaccurate or incomplete voter registers, or severe queues at polling stations. Centralising the management of the electoral process has often been proposed as a solution. There has been little theorisation and no empirical investigations into the effects that centralising an already decentralised system would have, however. This article addresses this lacuna by conceptualising centralisation through the literature on bureaucratic control and discretion. It then empirically investigates the effects through a case study of centralisation in two UK referendums. Semi-structured interviews were used with those who devised the policy instrument and those who were subject to it. The introduction of central directions had some of the desired effects such as producing more consistent services and eliminating errors. It also had side effects, however, such as reducing economic efficiency in some areas and overlooking local knowledge. Furthermore, the reforms caused a decline of staff morale, job satisfaction and souring of relations among stakeholder organisations. The process of making organisational change therefore warrants closer attention by policy makers and future scholarship on electoral integrity

Pressure From Below: The Case of Walukuba?Masese Division in the Municipality of Jinja, Uganda

Uganda has recently embraced a decentralised system of governance with the main goal of approaching citizens to participatory decision?making processes and improving efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery, as well as fighting poverty and exclusion. Despite a number of important government programmes, policies and structures, a significant number of people in Uganda still remain poor and many still live below the poverty line. There is a high degree of powerlessness and voicelessness that negatively influences the level of organisation for collective action. In the districts of Jinja and Lira, the Pressure From Below experience has been led by a grass roots organisation engaging with government and non?government institutions to influence citizens at the local level to voice their concerns and participate in joint community improvement initiatives

The prisoner's right to vote and civic responsibility: Reaffirming the social contract?

Copyright © 2009 NAPOThis article considers the issue of the prisoner’s right to vote in the light of recent developments in law and policy. It critically reviews the purported justifications for disenfranchisement and argues that re-enfranchisement should be pursued on the grounds of both principle and policy

‘We didn’t see it coming': the Conservatives

This contribution to the ‘Britain Votes 2017’ special issue of Parliamentary Affairs focuses on the Conservative Party’s campaign. It was a campaign at which everything that could go wrong for the Conservatives did go wrong. The manifesto, which May’s Chief of Staff Nick Timothy believed would be an asset, turned into a liability, confirming the belief of her campaign consultant Lynton Crosby that the contest between the parties needed to be framed in terms of leadership. Unfortunately, however, Theresa May simply wasn’t the kind of presidential politician who could carry that kind of campaign. Nor did Brexit do her or her party as much of a favour as everyone had expected. For one thing, she seemed to think she could get away with mouthing mantras and platitudes about leaving the EU, opening up a vacuum that other issues rushed in to fill. For another, the number of UKIP, older, poorly-educated and working-class voters that the party gained as a result of the government’s tough talk on Europe seems to have been outweighed by the number of younger, better-educated, middle-class, Remain voters who were alienated and infuriated by it. More generally, the Tories suffered because they were unable or unwilling, ideologically or otherwise, to respond convincingly to increasing voter concern about ongoing cuts to key public services