Participation in the administration of elections and perceptions of electoral integrity
- Author(s)
- Julia Partheymüller, Wolfgang C. Müller, Armin Rabitsch, Michael Lidauer, Paul Grohma
- Abstract
In recent years, election administration has become a subject of intensified debates, raising questions of how to organize elections to ensure electoral integrity. One question concerns who should serve as members of polling station boards, administer election day proceedings, and participate in the vote count. Different models co-exist in modern democracies, with some countries – among them Austria – actively involving the political parties in the election administration. Against this background, this paper examines perceptions of electoral integrity among Austrian poll workers and citizens using data from an original survey of poll workers and survey data of the voting population. The results show that poll workers have greater confidence in the election administration than regular voters but are equally or more skeptical regarding other aspects of electoral integrity. Also, their partisan background shapes perceptions of electoral integrity. To conclude, we discuss the benefits and limitations of the ‘party model’ for poll worker recruitment.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Government
- External organisation(s)
- Verein wahlbeobachtung.org
- Journal
- Electoral Studies
- Volume
- 77
- No. of pages
- 16
- ISSN
- 0261-3794
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2022.102474
- Publication date
- 06-2022
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 506001 General theory of the state, 504007 Empirical social research
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Political Science and International Relations
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/b8bbdfc5-a0c0-4f2f-ba0e-e68f0320b24f