Principle 3: Effective Investigation jurisdiction of each institution and these should be determined well in advance of the election. States should specifically define the subject-matter jurisdiction of an investigative body to consider different types of complaints and the appropriate scope of investigation. The differences between administrative, civil, and criminal disputes, violations, or offenses are due to their legal character and could imply jurisdictional boundaries for an investigative body’s consideration of complaints. Administrative courts or EMBs usually handle claims for which the statute or agency regulations grant them jurisdiction, while criminal courts Rules and regulations should define › Subject-matter jurisdiction and appropriate scope of investigation; › Which bodies have original jurisdiction; › Institutional accountability for investigative bodies to consider complaints, even where there are questions on jurisdiction; › At which level – national, local, district – an investigative body has authority to initially process and investigate complaints. handle claims brought by a prosecutorial body on behalf of the people of the jurisdiction. Generally, civil courts deal with all other matters that are neither administrative nor criminal (and there are many different exceptions or variations to this globally, including courts with various dedicated jurisdictions). Objections to election results, for example,292 may fall under an administrative regulation and be pursued in an administrative court, through an EMB, or in a civil court, while alleged criminal offenses, as outlined in a state’s electoral laws or criminal codes,293 would fall to a criminal court. Administrative sanctions for wrongful conduct are typically imposed by EMBs or civil or administrative courts. There may also be instances of concurrent jurisdiction—for example, an administrative dispute over election results may also involve elements of a criminal offense. 292 Orozco-Henríquez et al., supra note 101, at 39. 293 Id. at 38. 93