Election Information: ACE Moves to Phase 2

The Administration and Cost of Elections (ACE) project website is receiving close to one million hits per month. Many users attest to the utility of the material available on the site when designing or seeking to understand electoral processes. Nonetheless, the project partners are well aware that the texts and the sample materials need updating, particularly recognizing the advancements in practice and in research in the field of election administration since the original documentation was compiled. In addition, users have been calling for additional information.

The first phase of the ACE project ended in December 2003 with the completion of 12 different topic areas - electoral systems, legislative framework, electoral management, boundary delimitation, voter education, voter registration, voting operations, parties and candidates, vote counting, media and elections, election integrity, and elections and technology - in three language versions (English, Spanish and French). In January 2004, the three founding organizations IDEA, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), plus other agencies heavily involved in supporting the venture, met to plan Phase 2 of the project. It was agreed that:

• the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Elections Canada, and the Federal Institute of Elections (IFE) in Mexico would become full partners, and that other organizations should join as associates;
• the existing material should be revised; and
• the project should be expanded to include a capacity development and knowledge networking dimension.

Updated CDs containing the new languages and topic areas are available through the offices of any of the partner organizations.