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Promoting Legal Frameworks for Democratic Elections: An NDI Guide for Developing Election Laws and Law Commentaries, by Patrick Merloe (2008). [3] This guide addresses the importance of developing legal frameworks that promote democratic elections. It explores why it is important for political parties, civic organizations and others to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of existing and proposed laws affecting election processes.  The guide also addresses the importance of developing an open and inclusive political process to address those laws. The guide presents the main issues to examine when evaluating the legal framework and over 200 questions to consider, as well as sources of international law on the subject and a list of NDI election law commentaries.

NDI Handbook on How Domestic Organizations Monitor Elections: An A to Z Guide (1995). [4] This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of how to organize a nonpartisan domestic election monitoring effort. It covers:

• Planning and organizational issues;
• Recruiting, training and logistical issues in building a communications network for reporting;
• Various subjects to monitor in the pre-election, election day and post-election periods;
• Considerations for how the organization and skills developed through monitoring efforts can be applied to non-election activities.

The guide is designed for election monitoring by civic organizations but can be used by political parties in designing their efforts to ensure electoral integrity and protect their vote.

Building Confidence in the Voter Registration Process: An NDI Monitoring Guide for Political Parties and Civic Organizations, by Richard L. Klein and Patrick Merloe (2001). [5] This voter registration monitoring guide addresses:

• The role of voter registration and the principal types of voter registration systems;
• Why it is important for political parties and civic organizations to monitor these systems;
• Specific techniques for monitoring processes for collecting names, creating a voter registry and polling station voter lists, correcting errors in the lists and use of the lists on election day.

Media Monitoring to Promote Democratic Elections: An NDI Handbook for Citizen Organizations, by Robert Norris and Patrick Merloe (2002). [6] This handbook takes a step-by- step approach to media monitoring. It covers:

• The importance of determining who controls the media and the difference between state- controlled versus private and broadcast versus print media;
• Issues to address in deciding what media and what subjects to monitor;
• Planning and organization of a media monitoring project;
• Monitoring methodology, including specific instructions for monitoring different types of media;
• Considerations for the presentation of findings and recommendations.

The Quick Count and Election Observation: An NDI Handbook for Civic Organizations and Political Parties, by Melissa Estok, Neil Nevitte and Glenn Cowan (2002). [7] This handbook addresses the importance of developing systematic observation of vital election day processes, including the quality of voting, ballot counting and tabulation of election results, as well as the projection of electoral results with extremely narrow margins of error and high degrees of statistical confidence. It covers:

• Planning and organizational issues;
• Recruiting and training;
• communications systems;
• Developing a random statistical sample of polling stations for rapid and exacting analysis;
• Analytical techniques;
• The considerations for the release of quick count findings;

The handbook is designed for civic organizations but can easily be used by political parties. It also is designed for use by civic organizations that decide not to undertake projection of electoral results. As an organizer's guide, it reviews many of the issues covered by NDI's 1995 "A to Z" handbook.

Monitoring Electronic Technologies in Electoral Processes: An NDI Guide for Political Parties and Civic Organizations, by Vladimir Pran and Patrick Merloe (2008). [8] This guide aims to increase the understanding of civic and political activists regarding:

• What transparency measures to demand in establishing safeguards concerning electronic electoral technologies; and
• What skills their organizations will need to develop to verify the integrity of electronic electoral technologies.

Specifically, it covers the types of technologies employed, the potential challenges for electoral integrity brought by such technologies, issues to consider in deciding whether to introduce electronic technologies and transparency that should be employed when electronic technologies are utilized.

Contact Information

For more information about these programs, use our contact form [9] or contact:

Washington, D.C.
Meghan Fenzel, Program Assistant (202)728-5641

Updated March 2008

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