Conference Workshops on Global Elections Data Resources

There is considerable interest in local-level data on election returns, and on voting and turnout behavior, but collections of data at global scale are incomplete or hard to access. This award supports two workshops as first steps (building on the Constituency Level Elections Archive (CLEA) in developing an enhanced, high-quality, and more comprehensive new resource, The Election Archive (THEA) archiving local level election data from around the world.

The workshops will allow for the effective design of this new data resource, which will help researchers and policy makers evaluate election processes in a large number of political contexts.

This award supports two conference workshops, one virtual and one in-person/hybrid, with two overriding goals: first, to gather together experts on data from elections around the world to share research findings and contribute their expertise and, second, to broaden and diversify the network of researchers involved in The Election Archive (THEA), to be introduced in 2022 or 2023. THEA will build on available resources, especially Constituency Level Elections Archive (CLEA), which has existed since 2006, and has been funded in part by NSF over multiple grants.

The workshops engage a wide range of social scientists and representatives of potential user communities to advise on research community needs and priorities, and provide opportunities for student participants to gain useful skills in data analysis. This award is supported by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior Program and the Security and Preparedness Program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.