What is Electoral Management?

Elections are at the heart of the democratic process.  They allow citizens to choose who will represent them, to shape government policy and hold politicians to account.

Organising an election, however, is a huge logistical task.  It requires the careful management of complex technology, ballot boxes, people, resources and the communication of information to the public.

While many electoral officials work tireless to successfully deliver well run elections, they are often problems.  These might include:

• Queues at polling stations
• Low voter registration rates
• De-motivated staff

All of these can undermine the quality of elections, and in turn, the quality of democratic governance.

Electoral management is therefore the careful management of technology, employees, resources, the relationships between stakeholder organisations and the communication of information to the public.  

Key tasks involve

• Recruiting staff to run elections
• Choosing a method to compile the electoral register
• Choosing voting technologies
• Regular systems of evaluation for both the staff and technologies used
• Managing a network of stakeholders involved in organising elections
• Communicating effectively with the public
• Organising polling day and the count

This website is designed to provide research, management tools, news and consultancy for those organisations involved in this challenging and essential government services.