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Information Resources
F. Clifton White Resource Center
CNN/IFES Election Watch Partnership
Publications
Survey Research
The Hatfield-Dixon Internship
Charles and Kathleen Manatt Fellowship
Regional Resource Centers
Regional Election Networks
Association of Caribbean Electoral Organizations
Association of Asian Election Authorities
Association of African Election Authorities
Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials
IFES understands that maintaining democratic societies with free elections requires more than commitment; it requires an enormous amount of complex technical information. That’s why IFES has developed a unique collection of resources to help democracies at every stage of development.
F. Clifton White Resource Center
In recognition of his great service and devotion to the ideals of democracy, IFES has established the F. Clifton White Election Information Resource Center to help new democracies obtain information on democracy around the world.
When a nation seeks for the first time to hold free elections, register voters, purchase election equipment, ensure accurate ballot-counting and reporting, prevent fraud, inform voters, craft election laws, even write a Constitution, one place has effective models on all these subjects: the F. Clifton White Resource Center. Established democracies also consult the Resource Center for a wide variety of comparative information to help modernize their democratic systems.
Housed in IFES’ Washington, D.C., headquarters, the Resource Center is a multimedia repository and clearinghouse for materials related to election administration, democratic government, rule of law, and civil society. The Resource Center also serves as a tribute to the life work of IFES’ founder, F. Clifton White, and as a critical source of ideas, models, and support for IFES’ work around the globe.
The Resource Center’s rapidly growing collections attract visitors from around the world - election officials, policymakers, scholars, members of the news media, and civic leaders. With materials in many languages, the collections include
· Sample Documentation - election laws, constitutions, ballots, voter registration materials, tally sheets, voter education flyers and booklets, election worker training materials, budgets, calendars, procurement documents, observer orientation materials, and a photo archive.
· Sample Election Equipment and Supplies - a full range of ballot boxes, voter privacy screens, ballot box seals, staining ink, and other items used around the world, and available from suppliers.
· Books - more than 6,000 volumes, consisting of national and regional election offices’ official publications, academic texts, materials from international and non-governmental organizations, and specialized periodicals.
· Posters - approximately 500 voter education and pollworker training posters from nations on every continent.
· Videos and audio cassettes - nearly 500 videotapes of voter motivation spots, pollworker training footage, civic education messages, IFES-sponsored conferences and product information, and almost 100 audio cassettes of voter motivation spots and civic education messages.
· Electronic Databases - a country-by-country file of electoral system information, names and addresses of election officials, voting eligibility requirements, election dates and results, and political party contact information.
In addition, Resource Center staff provides on-call research and assistance to election offices and governments around the world. The collections are open for use on weekdays, with work areas observed for visiting officials, interested citizens, and researchers.
CNN/IFES Election Watch Partnership
Through the F. Clifton White Resource Center, IFES maintained a partnership in 1998 with CNN (Cable News Network) to disseminate accurate, non-partisan election information to countries around the globe.
The information is aired daily on CNN-International and seen in more than 100 million households in 210 countries and territories. Forty-five second Election Watch vignettes offer viewers bits of data and interesting background on upcoming national-level elections and referenda. An expanded version of Election Watch, offering dates, background, and results on more than 90 elections, is also found on the web’s most popular news and information site, CNN-Interactive (www.cnn.com/WORLD/election.watch).
Election data collected through the Resource Center’s Election Information System is aired and published regularly by major media outlets. Each day, election information is collected from sources around the world and carefully verified to ensure the most accurate information is disseminated.
IFES Website
IFES’ website is operated through the F. Clifton White Resource Center and brings important information on elections and democracy to anyone in the world with a computer and modem. The website includes
· Breaking election news.
· Detailed reports on IFES country activities.
· A comprehensive election calendar.
· Access to IFES publications.
· Links to a broad range of related websites, including those operated by IFES in Armenia, Paraguay, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. The IFES website is also directly linked with Cable News Network’s website.
On November 20, 1997, «TopTenLinks» ranked the IFES website among the Top Ten resource sites. The website was also selected as one of the best sites on the Internet when it received a Lycos «Top 5 percent» award. In 1998, IFES’ website received an average of 51,220 «hits» a month.
Publications
The F. Clifton White Resource Center produces informative publications for those who work in the democracy field or have a scholarly interest in the area.
· Elections Today. IFES’ quarterly magazine reports on IFES projects and brings up-to-date information on election administration techniques, principles, and notable innovations to election administrators worldwide.
· Country reports. At the end of each project, IFES teams prepare reports on their findings and activities. For many countries, these reports are a source of hard-to-find information and are often the only post-election study that can act as a baseline for the next election. Resource Center staff fulfill dozens of requests for IFES publications each year.
· Buyer’s Guide for Election Services, Supplies, and Equipment. The 1998 edition of the Buyer’s Guide is the only publication to provide government officials and election administrators with a location source for specific services and products necessary to democratic elections.
Survey Research
Democracy requires engaged, informed, active citizens. Achieving this goal requires strategies to change attitudes based on empirical evidence, not anecdotes or speculation - and the ability to measure results. Therefore, IFES has pioneered the use of survey research in nearly one dozen countries to date.
Data from IFES’ survey and focus group research
· Provide key indicators of the growth or deterioration of democratic practices.
· Assist in developing programs and communications strategies.
· Offer quantified information to develop yardsticks to measure the effectiveness of existing programs.
· Indicate areas of activity for future programs geared toward participatory development.
IFES’ democracy and governance research takes a team-oriented approach combining methodological rigor, local orientation, and an outlook focused on the needs of the election commission or nation being served. Many democratization organizations use research findings to fine-tune programs, identify problem areas, define factors that further or impede democratic political processes and economic reforms, and refine public communications strategies.
To date, IFES has conducted survey research in Armenia, Azerbaijan, El Salvador, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Philippines, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. IFES also provided technical assistance for a survey in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The Hatfield-Dixon Internship
The Hatfield-Dixon Internship Program began under the auspices of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and named after the former United States Senators and state Secretaries of State Mark Hatfield and Alan Dixon. The Hatfield-Dixon Internship Program was created to bring election officials from emerging democracies to the United States for intensive professional development in elections and voting processes.
IFES coordinated two Hatfield-Dixon internships during 1998. Mr. Albert Arhin, the Director of Operations at the Electoral Commission of Ghana, conducted his internship at the King County Records and Elections Division in Seattle, Washington. Also, as a Hatfield-Dixon Intern, Mr. Felix Ulloa, Magistrate of the Supreme Election Commission of El Salvador, observed Kentucky’s election process for two weeks as the commonwealth prepared for primary elections in May 1998.
Charles and Kathleen Manatt Fellowship
In 1998, IFES launched the Charles and Kathleen Manatt Fellowship Program. Established by IFES Chairman Charles Manatt, the Fellowship is designed for students interested in furthering their knowledge of election administration and civic participation in the political process. Two graduate students from Midwestern colleges and universities are selected annually for a six-week program of intensive study at the F. Clifton White Resource Center.
Regional Resource Centers
In addition to the Washington headquarters, many IFES field offices maintain their own Resource Centers with similar information from the nation and region they serve, thus making critical information on democracy more accessible around the world. IFES Field Resource Centers are located in:
· Armenia;
· Bosnia (IFES maintained voter education/information resource centers in Sarajevo and Zenica during the 96-98 electoral period.);
· Congo;
· Ghana (The Resource Center is maintained jointly with, and housed in, the Election Commission offices.);
· Haiti;
· Kazakhstan (This Resource Center supports smaller satellite libraries in Kazakhstan’s new capital of Astana, and in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.);
· Liberia;
· Moldova;
· Paraguay;
· Russia; and
· Yemen.
In addition, with IFES’ assistance, the Association of African Elected Officials maintains a library within the Secretariat office in Asmara, Eritrea. The Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials runs a documentation center at its Secretariat in Budapest, Hungary.
Regional Election Networks
One of IFES’ most exciting projects is the creation of four regional associations for election commissioners and officials, two of which were established during 1998. These associations manifest IFES’ commitment to build self-sustainability among emerging democracies and to diminish the role of Western democracies in building the culture of democracy.
The regional associations provide election officials with an ongoing forum to meet with their counterparts in neighboring countries, share experiences, exchange ideas, and both learn from and support one another. The associations strengthen the capacity of these nations to develop effective election systems unique to their cultures while reducing the need for future outside assistance.
Following are summaries of recent activities among the four associations.
Association of Caribbean Electoral Organizations
The Founding General Assembly of the Association of Caribbean Electoral Organizations (ACEO), held March 30-April 1, 1998, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, brought together electoral authorities from around the Caribbean. To date, 19 electoral organizations have joined the Association.
Association members first addressed the issue of access to the electoral and political process for people with disabilities. Although inclusiveness is essential to a true democracy, election administrators rarely deal with this topic. And because of a variety of problems, people with disabilities are often prevented from voting or voting in secret.
Three main areas were discussed.
· Awareness: People with disabilities typically have low voter registration and voter turnout rates, and election officials often do not take the concerns of the disabled into consideration. Conference participants suggested raising electoral and governmental officials’ awareness of the concerns people with disabilities face, and conducting civic education campaigns that reach people with disabilities.
· Accessibility: Access to voter registration and polling sites is often a major problem for people with disabilities. Among the remedies discussed were selecting more accessible sites as well as adopting home- or hospital-based voting, curbside voting, and voting by mail.
· Secrecy: Election systems routinely ignore the right to a secret ballot for people with disabilities. Conference participants discussed some ways to ensure secrecy for all voters, such as accessible voting booths and Braille ballots or ballot guides.
The General Assembly unanimously adopted the San Juan Resolution committing ACEO members
«To work cooperatively with organizations of and for people with disabilities to remove the physical and attitudinal barriers which prevent people with disabilities from participating in the electoral process . . . [and] to design and conduct registration, outreach, and education campaigns which result in the greater participation in election systems of all people with disabilities.»
Association of Asian Election Authorities
The Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA), with twelve member nations, was formally established on February 10, 1998, at its inaugural conference in Manila, Philippines. Conference participants agreed that AAEA would work to promote and institutionalize open and transparent elections, independent election authorities, professional election administration, citizen participation in the electoral and civic process, information sharing, and to develop information resources.
In its first major activity, AAEA, at the invitation of the National Election Committee of Cambodia, observed that nation’s July 26, 1998, parliamentary elections. IFES, which serves as AAEA’s interim secretariat, facilitated this USAID-funded mission.
AAEA deployed five teams of observers to four provinces. Overall, AAEA observed that the National Election Committee had prepared well for the elections and overcame difficult obstacles to complete the voter registration process, provide training to election officials at all levels, and distribute election materials in a timely and efficient manner. The Association determined the election credible and acceptable.
Association of African Election Authorities
The Association of African Election Authorities (AAEA) held the inaugural meeting of its General Assembly on August 13-15, 1998, in Accra, Ghana. Coordinated by IFES, the conference was attended by election officials from 24 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations and donors.
The General Assembly worked to chart AAEA’s future course. Priorities AAEA agreed to include
· Conducting an in-depth study of the monitoring and enforcement of campaign finance laws and regulations in Africa.
· Sharing information and lessons learned on a variety of election-related issues, including voting abroad, redistricting, and administering local elections.
· Developing training in budgeting, fundraising, data analysis, logistics planning, conflict resolution, and mediation.
· Promoting and institutionalizing the professional nature of African elections through regional exchanges and networking.
Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials
As most of Central and Eastern Europe’s emerging democracies have gone through several election cycles now, the issues and challenges they must address are substantially different than when the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO) began in 1991.
Given these new realities, ACEEEO took new steps toward achieving financial and institutional sustainability. Prime among them was a decision, under the leadership of Secretary General Zoltan Toth of Hungary and President Zenonas Vaigauskas of Lithuania, to draft a new charter that clarifies the association’s decision-making and operational processes, and its membership and dues structure. This charter was adopted at ACEEEO’s highly successful November 1998 conference in Vilnius, Lithuania. Central election institutions from 12 countries are now ACEEEO members. IFES has also joined as a member-supporter. More institutions from other countries are expected to sign the Charter during 1999.
In addition, in 1998, ACEEEO
· Fulfilled a request by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to field more than 100 observers for the September elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
· Worked to make its Budapest Election Documentation Center - which provides information on electoral law, constitutions, electoral systems, election results, and general election administration - more user-friendly for its members.
· Launched a new initiative, «Euro-votes,» which establishes an electoral training and study center at Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary for election officials, observers, and other participants in the electoral process.
· Continued to introduce new election technologies and share innovative ways to counter election fraud and increase transparency in the election process.
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