Citizen Defense of Elections

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

Around the world, we are witnessing new challenges to the integrity of elections, including in countries previously thought to have consolidated democracy. In some places, spurious claims of election fraud undermine popular faith in the legitimacy of elections. In others, electoral authoritarians draw from new playbooks to manipulate electoral outcomes to their own advantage. In this roundtable we will discuss and debate the role of civil society in the advancement and protection of free and fair elections, even where civil society itself may be under duress. We draw on lessons from research and practice and ask: Under what conditions is domestic election monitoring most likely to arise? How has the practice evolved over time? Do citizen monitoring efforts improve elections or trust in elections? If so, how? What monitoring techniques are most effective, and in what circumstances? What are the challenges to non-partisan election monitoring? Are there unanticipated consequences? This panel brings together academic and practitioners to reflect on what we have learned in over three decades of experience.

Sub Unit

• Division 44: Democracy and Autocracy

Chair

• Susan D. Hyde University of California, Berkeley

Presenters

• Daniela Donno University of Oklahoma

• Sharon F. Lean Wayne State University

• George Kwaku Ofosu London School of Economics and Political Science

• Rekai Rusinga University of California, Davis

• Anthony James DeMattee The Carter Center

• Julia Brothers National Democratic Institute