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This book is the first systematic study to investigate why it is easier to vote in some democracies than in others. It draws on in-depth case studies from Central America and data from Latin America more broadly to address how political parties and other actors interact in constructing election administration rules and procedures. Using a theoretical framework centred on electoral threat, party capacity, and electoral management body composition, the author identifies multiple pathways to inclusive and restrictive election administration.
List of contents
1. Introduction
2. Election Administration Inclusiveness
3. Electoral Integrity and Inclusiveness in the Americas
4. Guatemala: Raising Obstacles to Voter Participation, 1983-2003
5. Guatemala: Election Administration Reform and Improving Voter Access, 2004-2011
6. Nicaragua: Bringing the Ballot to the People, 1984-1996
7. Nicaragua: The Slow Erosion of Inclusiveness, 2000-2012
8. El Salvador: From Voter Exclusion to Halting Reform
9. Conclusion
List of Interviews
Appendix: Recommendations from International Election Observer Missions
About the author
Kevin Pallister is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Bridgewater College, USA. He has worked as an international election observer in Guatemala for the Organization of American States and his work has been published in the journal
Latin American Politics and Society and the
Routledge Handbook of Comparative Political Institutions (2015).