Guidelines for Understanding, Adjudicating, and Resolving Disputes in Elections level for the sake of accountability. The highest EMB should be apprised of allegations of widespread improprieties by election officials, or complaints that could result in imposition of criminal or severe administrative penalties, or political sanctions for electoral contestants (such as large fines, political party dissolution or disqualification of candidates). Administrative remedies may also be used as recourse for certain kinds of cases in which penalties and sanctions would not offer an appropriate resolution, especially in the pre-election day phase of the electoral process. These types of remedies may include corrections of omissions or errors in the voter register, reinstatement of candidates or parties that have been erroneously rejected, granting media airtime to candidates or parties that have been shortchanged, or providing meeting locations for groups that had been incorrectly denied permits. Repeat elections do not necessarily mirror the intentions of voters on the original Election Day and should not be undertaken without strong justification. Repeat elections are not an appropriate means of punishment for violations of election laws unless the violations truly call into question the validity of vote outcomes. Holding repeat elections is especially wrong if used to collectively punish voters for bad behavior (such as presumed complicity in vote-buying). Elections are meant to give voice to the will of the people. The results of elections should not be disregarded lightly or easily. Election outcomes should only be overturned in extraordinary circumstances, where evidence of illegality, dishonesty, unfairness, malfeasance or other misconduct is clear and, importantly, where such improper behavior has distorted the vote outcome. Absent such extraordinary circumstances, candidates and parties that lose elections should accept electoral outcomes rather than routinely claim the elections and the governments they produce are illegitimate. Complaints adjudication mechanisms should not be manipulated to continue political battles after the election and to undermine the finality of official election results. Persons who violated the law may still be pursued through administrative or criminal processes without holding up election results. 104