Book Details

The potential for fraud overshadows elections around the world, even in long-established democracies. Significant allegations of fraud marred recent elections in Italy, Mexico, and several former Soviet republics. In the United States, charges of manipulation in the 2000 presidential contest heightened concern about the vulnerability of all aspects of the election process, ranging from voter registration to the security of high-tech voting machines.
Fair and competitive elections are the bedrock of democratic government. They are essential mechanisms for providing public accountability, transparency, and representation. They give ordinary citizens the opportunity to choose those who govern and to express their views on the critical issues facing their community or nation. Fraud derails this process by preventing voters’ voices from being heard. Yet despite its importance, too little is known about election fraud and manipulation.
Election Fraud presents research on defining, measuring, and detecting election fraud and electoral manipulation by leading scholars of election law, election administration, and U.S. and comparative politics. The first part of the book examines the U.S. understanding of election fraud in comparative perspective. The second part empirically investigates the extent and nature of election fraud in the United States. The concluding section analyzes techniques for detecting and potentially deterring fraud. These strategies include both statistical analysis and on-the-ground election monitoring.

R. Michael Alvarez is professor of political science at the California Institute of Technology and codirector of the Caltech-MIT Voting Technology Project. His books include Hard Choices, Easy Answers: Values, Information, and American Public Opinion, written with John Brehm (Princeton, 2002). He is a nationally recognized expert on voting behavior and elections.

Thad E. Hall is assistant professor of political science and a research fellow in the Institute of Public and International Affairs at the University of Utah. Together with R. Michael Alvarez, he wrote Point, Click, and Vote: The Future of Internet Voting (Brookings, 2004).

Susan D. Hyde is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Yale University. To date, she has been on seven observer missions for three organizations in Afghanistan, Albania, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, and Venezuela. She is co-editor of Election Fraud: Detecting and Deterring Election Manipulation.