Electoral Expenditure Research Articles

E-KATCH (KANGRA APPLICATION FOR TRACKING CHUNAV)

e-KATCH (Kangra Application for Tracking Chunav) - Web application and Web view for the purpose of election expenditure monitoring - a novel initiative of District Kangra for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Election 2022. One of the most important aspects of election monitoring is Expenditure monitoring which is paramount for a free and fair election. Since the Election Expenditure monitoring machinery works directly under the DEO, it is imperative that a monitoring tool be placed in a position to supervise the functioning of all the expenditure monitoring teams. The e-KATCH platform serves as a monitoring tool that enables the DEO and other authorized personnel to supervise and manage the activities of these expenditure monitoring teams effectively. This system helps in ensuring that candidates and political parties adhere to the election expenditure limits set by the Election Commission. It enables real-time monitoring of expenses, provides data analysis and reporting features, and facilitates transparency in the electoral process.

A Peer-To-Peer based System with Blockchain for Secured Voting Scheme (E-Voting)

In today’s world, when information safety is essential, blockchain is supreme for distributing that information because it gives instantly, provides, and completely unambiguous information stored on an immutable (unchangeable) ledger that can be accessed only by authorized network members. Blockchain increases trust, safety, clarity (Transparency), and the traceability of information transferred across a network. Today voting systems tolerate different safety threats and similarly distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS). Polling booth capturing, vote modification, and unfairly, gaining unlawful(unofficial) access to a computer system. The main objective of a similar fashion would be to deliver a decentralized(single organization cannot handle it) design to run and boost a voting system that is openly and separately(Independently) confirmable. The benefit that we get using of E-voting scheme would be to lessen election expenditures involving material, employee salary, and logistics records. If a voter is not physically present(out of the station) then he can vote remotely. That is it enhances a great degree of attendance. E-voting can be beneficial because anybody can effortlessly access the election. The security of E-voting in terms of verification(Authentication), clone(duplicate) votes, and non-repudiation of votes, is very less. E-voting is being studied hugely, and most of the execution is verified and even used for a while. That’s why very few executions (Implementation) are reliable sufficiently and are still in use

Distilling the distillers: examining the political activities of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States

BackgroundUnderstanding of the alcohol industry’s means of influencing public policy is increasingly well established. Less is known, however, about the specific organisations that lead the political strategies of the alcohol industry. To fill this gap, this paper explores the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), a key trade association in the United States (US), which also operates internationally.MethodsThis study explores how DISCUS is organised and the main political activities it pursues to advance its policy interests. The study triangulates data from several sources, including DISCUS documents, as well as federal lobbying and election expenditure data.ResultsThis study demonstrates that DISCUS is a key political actor in the US and global alcohol policymaking context. There are identifiable strategies used by DISCUS to shape alcohol policy debates, including framing and lobbying. We also find key synergies between these strategies and identify their operation at varying levels of policy decision-making.ConclusionsGenerating more secure inferences about the nature of the alcohol industry’s efforts to advance its interests, and with what success and at what cost, requires researchers to investigate other trade associations in different contexts, and use other data sources.

Impact of Election Expenditure on Agricultural Service Delivery Expenditure in Zambia, 2000-2021

Purpose: This paper examined the public expenditure changes between elections and agriculture service delivery. The aim was to determine how the relationship trend related to agriculture growth. Early analyses assumed that elections act as a signal for preferential public expenditure. Thus, in Zambia, agriculture would be a priority as the government claims over 70% of citizens, directly or indirectly earn from the sector.
 Methodology: Times series secondary data was analyzed for descriptive statistics from 2000 to 2021.
 Findings: The evidence is that agriculture public expenditure was lower than CAADP targets in this period. Agriculture research as a service received the lowest funding. The trend also revealed that there were very sharp increases in election expenditure in both the preceding year and in the year of elections. In most election years this was close to 2% of total national public spending over the study period. These election spending spikes may have induced cyclical fiscal shocks, difficult to recover from, resulting in limited fiscal space and a reduction in agriculture spending. The electoral cycle induced fiscal shocks, over time, may have also led to a downward trend in agriculture growth. The authors identify this phenomenon as the ‘functionality burden of democracy’.
 Recommendation: Based on the findings the study recommends that agreed policy objectives in agriculture and CAADP commitments must become a national mission. This would mean that the agriculture goals are shared at all levels including family, schools, private sector, civil society and the media.

The Impact of Candidates’ Profile and Campaign Decisions in Electoral Results: A Data Analytics Approach

In recent years, a wide range of techniques has been developed to predict electoral results and to measure the influence of different factors in these results. In this paper, we analyze the influence of the political profile of candidates (characterized by personal and political features) and their campaign effort (characterized by electoral expenditure and by territorial deployment strategies retrieved from social networks activity) on the electoral results. This analysis is carried out by using three of the most frequent data analyitcs algorithms in the literature. For our analysis, we consider the 2017 Parliamentary elections in Chile, which are the first elections after a major reform of the electoral system, that encompassed a transition from a binomial to a proportional system, a modification of the districts’ structure, an increase in the number of seats, and the requirement of gender parity in the lists of the different coalitions. The obtained results reveal that, regardless of the political coalition, the electoral experience of candidates, in particular in the same seat they are running for (even when the corresponding district is modified), is by large the most influential factor to explain the electoral results. However, the attained results show that the influence of other features, such as campaign expenditures, depends on the political coalition. Additionally, by means of a simulation procedure, we show how different levels of territorial deployment efforts might impact on the results of candidates. This procedure could be used by parties and coalitions when planning their campaign strategies.

Citizens United and Independent Expenditures in State Supreme Court Elections

Following the decision by the US Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, questions about the impact of unlimited independent expenditures on state supreme court elections emerged. For those critical of the decision, an area of concern was how elected state courts could be adversely affected by outside group spending. Utilizing data from thirteen states that required disclosure of money spent by outside groups between 2006 and 2016, this research explores patterns of independent expenditures to determine if fears about spending in judicial elections were justified. Using both descriptive and regression analyses, the results indicate that independent expenditures have been on the rise, though important differences exist across the states and by sector. Where states once limited outside groups, their spending activity increased in the post-Citizens United era. Where state laws were not affected, outside group spending declined. The impact of the Supreme Court’s decision therefore is most clearly observed in states that once sought to limit the influence of outside groups.

Democracy on a Shoestring

Democracy requires money. Voters must be registered, voting rolls updated, election dates advertised, voting technology purchased and tested, poll workers trained, ballots designed, votes counted and verified, and on and on. Despite the importance of election expenditures, we have a shamefully inadequate amount of information about how much our elections cost. This Article, based on a novel and painstakingly hand-coded dataset, provides much needed information on election expenditures across multiple years from four states: California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida. These states, given their unique characteristics, provide a compelling sample set. In what we believe to be a completely novel approach to the collection of election expenditure data, we supplement our hand-coded data with predictive machine learning. This allows us to estimate average annual election spending across multiple government units. Our findings, unsurprisingly, reveal great variation both across and within states. But our findings also reveal that much of the variation is seemingly unconnected to poverty, race, and other traditional explanations of electoral disadvantage. This brings into question many basic assumptions legislators, courts, and scholars harbor about election expenditures. Our findings implicate not only policy discussions about election funding but also the limitations of doctrinal interventions and judicial remedies that are divorced from issues of resource allocation. The Article proceeds in five parts: Part I provides background on election funding, including a discussion of election costs and what the most common funding sources are. This Part also discusses election law doctrines and how they do not directly consider election expenditures. Part II outlines our data and methods. Part III presents our main findings. Part IV responds to the findings and explores potential doctrines under which election expenditures might be considered. Part V weighs the pros and cons of several non-doctrinal proposals for election administration reform.

Privatized Democracy: The Role of Election Services Vendors in the United States

Election equipment in the United States is exclusively purchased from private-sector vendors. When a jurisdiction purchases voting equipment, it is actually purchasing the hardware and software along with a variety of services for the initial implementation and long-term maintenance and support of the system. Election services constitute roughly one third of county-level election expenditures. The results of logistic regression analyses estimating the likelihoods of county purchases of different election services from election services vendors suggest a relationship between purchasing decisions and county demographics, namely the size of the minority population. Localities in states with centralized contracting systems were also substantially more likely to purchase all forms of vendor services.

ELECTION FINANCES OF GUADALUPE VILLAGE CANDIDATES IN CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES

This study examined and analysed the election expenditures incurred by local candidates during the latest 2013 village level election in Guadalupe, Cebu City, Philippines. The study also assessed the capability of Guadalupe village election candidates to run and win elections taking into account their income, campaign funds and incurred expenditures. A descriptive survey research design was employed in the study through one-on-one interviews with identified respondents. Secondary data substantiated the primary information generated from the research respondents. Findings revealed that campaign funds of election candidates are too high compared to the average income of ordinary village residents. In effect, only 15 candidates ran for election in Guadalupe village out of 33,000 registered voters. Ordinary aspiring candidate could not afford to raise the huge campaign needed funds. Because of limited income, Guadalupe residents aspiring to run in the local election were not able to take part in the election race. The study concludes that election financing and expenditures play a crucial role in determining voting behaviour and election outcomes. Examining election candidates’ expenditures affords transparency, fair electoral processes and can provide check and balance towards corruption and its prospects of occurrence especially during election period. It is recommended that the Commission on Election puts ceiling on election expenses to minimize campaign spending among the candidates thereby foster fair play during election campaigns. The candidates may also employ cyber campaign strategies by making use on social media as affordable and cheap way to do campaigns. Article visualizations:

Estudio de la sentencia SUP-JIN-359/2012: sobre la necesidad de una doctrina sobre invalidez por determinancia en el sistema electoral

Este ensayo aborda, mediante el estudio de algunas decisiones del Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación (TEPJF), la forma en que el sistema electoral mexicano está en continua calibración. En este contexto, se defiende la pertinencia de establecer a nivel constitucional y en la legislación secundaria, estándares más estrictos de escrutinio judicial en materia de fiscalización de gastos campaña. El tema central del presente análisis se ocupa de la posición que asumió la Sala Superior del TEPJF, a la luz del precedente SUP-JRC-165/2008, en la sentencia SUP-JIN-0359/2012, convirtiéndose ésta en una resolución incidental “de fondo”. En este trabajo se defiende la necesidad de que el TEPJF construya una doctrina sobre “determinancia” para calificar posibles violaciones a las reglas electorales que signifiquen un efecto trascendente e irreparable en los procesos electorales.

Cleansing Electoral Finances to Curb Unscrupulous Expenditures in Elections: Insights & Suggestions’

Cleansing Electoral Finances to Curb Unscrupulous Expenditures in Elections: Insights & Suggestions’

Demonetization in India: The Good, Bad and Ugly Facets

Since 2014 onwards the Modi government is campaigning for curbing Black Money and has ad vented new schemes to curb the same. Even as the economic case for demonetization is strong, it is possible that there were also some political economy calculations that weighed with the Government. It is common knowledge that unaccounted for cash, especially in high denominations, plays a big role in financing election expenditure beyond the authorized limits. The authorshave critically examined the process of demonetization, boons and banes of demonetization, key impacts on various sectors and have concluded that necessary to put the economy on a high growth path that would generate more jobs and make housing in the urban area more affordable to the poor. For over one month, discussion all over India is going as to whether the move is good, with great execution or the move is bad and could have been better executed. The anti-demonetization forces seem to have rallied against the government citing common man's hardships. It is beyond prediction that whether the demonetization move started with great hope and enthusiasm will succeed or not. However, one can safely conclude that the intentions are very good.

Indian elections 2014: explaining the landslide

This special issue examines the patterns, causes and consequences of India's 16th parliamentary elections. The 2014 elections broke records in terms of levels of voter participation, election expenditure and the number of political parties fielding candidates. The outcome marked a break from the past 30 years of India's electoral history with a single party – the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi – achieving a parliamentary majority on its own, without depending on coalition partners. Yet not all was new: there were strong continuities amid the change. In this collection, scholars present explanations for the BJP's success, analyse the extent to which urbanisation has acted as a disruptive force for electoral politics, look at the significance of a focus on leaders over political parties in the election campaign, assess the implications of the election result for the Indian party system and examine state-level contests in which regional parties held out against the BJP wave.

Dynamics of electoral expenditure and the ‘arms race’ thesis: The case of New South Wales

Calls for increased regulation are sometimes made in response to what is dubbed an ‘arms race’ in elections – a cost explosion in electoral expenditure driven by the competitive dynamics of elections. In 2010, New South Wales (NSW) adopted the first comprehensive caps on electoral expenditure in Australia on this basis. This paper examines the evidence for a cost explosion over the course of three NSW elections (1999–2007). It finds a significant but unevenly distributed increase in electoral expenditure – over 3 per cent per annum over and above inflation and the growth in voter population. In terms of explaining this spending increase, it finds a close relationship between electoral expenditure and the availability of campaign funds but a less clear one between such expenditure and the ‘winnability’ of the elections.由于选举中发生的“军备竞赛”——选举的你追我赶造成选举成本的暴增——人们呼吁加强管制。2010年，新南威尔士对选举开销出台了封顶的详细规定，在澳大利亚尚属首次。本文考察了新南威尔士三个选举过程（1999—2007）中成本激增的情况。作者发现选举开销重要但分布不规则的增长——高于通货膨胀及选民增长百分之三。如何解释选举开销的增长呢？作者发现选举开销与选举资金获得的难易程度关系密切，而与选举获胜机会的大小的关系模糊。

Investigating political marketing using mixed method: the case for campaign spending data

This article is a response to calls for new research methods in the study of political marketing. We submit that the mixed method approach to studying how political parties use opinion research and political communication is underused. More specifically we believe that campaign spending data, which are commonly analyzed in electoral studies, can become a significant source of information for the study of political marketing. We summarize the availability of electoral expenditure data in 13 established democracies before using a mixed method design to study political marketing management in Canada. We seek to validate quantitative data about marketing spending activity by administering semi‐structured interviews with practitioners who held senior campaign positions in major political parties. Our preliminary look at campaign finance through a political marketing scholarship lens reveals the strengths of drawing insights from such data but also some limitations. We conclude that, as other research has posited, Canadian political parties focus more on advertising in their approach to campaigning. More broadly, we propose that students of political marketing should balance proprietary interviews with transparent, standardized, replicable and objective sources of information such as campaign spending data, and vice‐versa. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Does Campaign Spending Affect Electoral Outcomes?

This study investigates the effect of candidates’ expenditure on elections’ results focusing on run-off elections’ data. Our analysis, based on all the available run-off municipal elections in Israel between 1993 and 2008, shows that candidates’ share of the vote is not substantially affected by their campaign spending. The effect is not substantial even though campaign expenditures in local elections is considerable, averaging $11 per constituent. This outcome contradicts recent results in the related literature showing that, in a developing country where voting is compulsory, campaign expenditures have a significant effect on vote shares. Yet, it is in line with the evidence of earlier studies based on developed countries showing that the effect of campaign spending is limited. This leads us to suggest that campaign spending is effective in developing countries because compulsory voting forces the relative poor population to turn out and vote, and this population is relatively more impressionable by campaign spending on media advertisements.

Reforming India's Party Financing and Election Expenditure Laws

Abstract Competitive political parties and election campaigns are central to the health of democracies. Parties and campaigns require significant resources to be effective. India has developed complex election expenditure, political party funding, and reporting and disclosure laws. We suggest that these laws may have perverse impacts on the electoral system: they tend to drive campaign expenditure underground and foster a reliance on unaccounted funds or “black money.” This tends to lead to an adverse selection system, in which those willing and able to work with black money dominate politics. We conclude with some possible remedies, including partial state financing of political parties, that might restore the health of India's electoral system.

Equitable Sharing and the Supreme Court

This article proposes a framework for judicial review based on a principle of equitable sharing that requires that the benefits and detriments of social life be equitably shared among all of society’s members. Related articles argue that a truly democratic society must adhere to a principle of equitable sharing, and that plausible readings of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution support a requirement of equitable sharing as integral to the American social ideal. This article argues that the Supreme Court’s relative autonomy from the political process enables it to contribute positively to the societal debate over the rights that flow from equitable sharing, and that the Court’s ties to the political process enable it to do so in a way that is consistent with democratic principles. The article then applies equitable sharing to several current controversies: the same sex marriage issue likely to come before the Supreme Court in the near future; the race conscious student assignment plans struck down in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No.1; and the ban on corporate expenditures in elections and the matching fund plan in publicly funded elections overthrown, respectively, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett.

Corruption within the Law: A Comparative Analysis of English and Nigerian Law

This dissertation aims to give a new scope on how to study corruption. This author has departed from the traditional methods of defining corruption and given an original and fresh perspective. In particular, this author has evaluated and analysed corruption within the law, a form of corruption which till this day has been overlooked.The dissertation explains how corruption in the law can occur and also provides a solution in the form of an algorithm which has been created and designed by this author. By using algorithms, this author will display a new method to test for corruption. This author will show how algorithms can be used to test corruption by creating one for corruption within the law. This author will show that using algorithms is a credible solution to test any form of corruption.Furthermore, to show how the algorithm on corruption within the law works in practice, this author has compared English and Nigerian electoral expenditure law.

Election Administration Finance in California Counties

Over the past decade, the federal and state governments have made large financial investments to improve election administration, but there is little to no understanding of the real workings and implications of election administration finance. This article takes a first look at election administration finance by examining election expenditures in California counties for fiscal years 1992 through 2008 using a public sector cost model. Regression analysis shows that economies of scale and voting technology are significant determinants of election expenditures, as are other factors affecting the cost of the production of election administration. Factors that are expected to affect the demand for election administration are generally shown not to be significant. These results will hopefully be beneficial for policy makers as they face important decisions about changes in voting technology and election administration.