Open Government Foundations

Electoral transparency principles should be adhered to regardless of election management composition or parties in power. To achieve this, open election data should be integrated into the electoral code or other relevant legislation, particularly for critical information that can impact electoral integrity, public confidence, and voter participation. This should include enumerating the timely release of polling station level election results, campaign finance disclosures, and the availability of polling station information, registered and rejected candidates, and voter registration data. Legal commitments to open election data can provide EMBs and other government bodies with guidance, support and, in some cases, protection in executing their mandates.

• The legal framework may also need to be adjusted to meet the changing transparency demands, as political campaigns are increasingly moving online and using digital means. Governments should ensure that regulation and disclosure of online political advertising, including political ads on social media and the use of paid influencers and amplifiers, is integrated into their campaign finance regime.

Most electoral information will reside within the EMB, which is typically mandated with collecting and managing the majority of administrative election data. However, there are cases where some data of interest may exist with other government or semi-government institutions. For instance, legislative bodies, judicial bodies, security forces, national statistical offices, interior or land ministries, government regulators and prosecutors, or third-party vendors may have valuable data related to the electoral process that may reside outside or in addition to the EMB.

• Consider how other open government initiatives can improve electoral integrity. For instance, transparency in municipal and discretionary budgets, service delivery information, procurement information, and other open details on government operations can help prevent the abuse of state resources for electoral campaigns.
• When multiple state actors manage election information, EMBs may consider cross-referencing those datasets on their own websites and working across agencies to ensure data is up-to-date and available. Meanwhile, civic actors, political parties, and other stakeholders should ensure data requests are targeted to the responsible office or department and direct advocacy efforts appropriately.

The rise of new actors and new technology dynamics in elections, such as third-party vendors or online political advertising and outreach, can complicate data openness. It’s critical that election vendors (voting technology providers or database management systems) are able to meet open data principles for the election information they produce and/or manage, which may need to be highlighted when tendering for bids and included in their contracts.

Updating or retrofitting data collection and production systems to ensure data is available in an open format can be resource intensive. Therefore EMBs should incorporate open data principles early in their planning and implementation strategies. This ensures appropriate data granularity and disaggregation, such as by adopting data collection tools that include all the relevant fields and reporting protocols to consolidate and publish information in a timely manner.

• This may also provide the opportunity to improve inclusive indicators and make data more comprehensive, such as by ensuring key demographic fields—like race, gender, and age—are collected where relevant.

Create a central repository where election information is made available on a static website and can be easily found. Information in traditional media—such as newspapers or broadcast news—will not be available in open data formats and can be easily lost after publication. Meanwhile, social media posts are not a reliable archive as content can be downgraded, is subject to opaque algorithms, and can be lost over time.

• However, social and traditional media can be a useful amplifier for electoral data. Making election data available on social or traditional media—such as the electoral calendar or polling station list—can enhance voter education by meeting voters where they typically get the bulk of their information.

Enhancing the openness of election data does not require website overhauls or complex web design with intricate structures and features. Such sites may be expensive or difficult to maintain, break down over time, or be inappropriate for the bandwidth in a given local context. Most data can be made open simply by making machine-analyzable files available that follow open data principles. This need not be technologically demanding or resource intensive.

Collect and publish key election data in an open format. Specifically, relevant government bodies can share election data and metadata in free, machine-readable formats and standardize vocabulary to make such information easier to analyze and verify. Show data as close to the original form it was collected and stored in as possible and disaggregated to the lowest possible level, including the level of individual polling stations. This is especially crucial for election results information.

To be truly open, election information should be permanently available online regardless of whether the cycle has passed. Some EMBs provide open data on an immediate or upcoming election by overwriting the same information from a previous election. Open election data—especially key datasets like polling station-level results—is a crucial historical reference, and data from past elections should be moved to an online archive available to all. This approach can also help reduce the burden on government bodies in responding to right to information requests and improve institutional knowledge.

The EMB may wish to support such activity with training, awareness raising, or stakeholder consultations. Open election data can support broad citizen monitoring objectives by supplementing and expanding upon traditional observation findings, and ensuring open election data is understood in a credible and impartial way. EMBs should make extra effort to reach underrepresented groups who may be able to use such data as part of voter information or advocacy efforts.

EMBs can consider working groups with civil society organizations and other broad-based coalitions to improve data transparency and to better understand and manage public expectations regarding electoral data. Election observer groups, women’s groups, representatives of vulnerable or underrepresented communities, anti-corruption organizations, and other civic actors worldwide have worked alongside EMBs to communicate expectations and data needs, develop common understandings of data priorities and timelines, and integrate open data strategies early in the process.

Create a complaint mechanism for the media, civil society, or interested members of the public to request verification of election-related information. The EMB should be given a mandate to investigate and respond to all requests in a timely manner.