5. Evidence a) The burden of evidence 502. The burden of evidence is the duty of the party making the challenge to prove a disputed assertion or allegation and, in criminal cases, a charge or accusation. The burden of evidence includes not just the burden of production, which is the party’s duty to introduce enough evidence on an issue to have it decided by the EDRB, but also the burden of persuasion, that is, the party’s duty to convince the EDRB to view the facts in a way that favours that party. In civil cases, especially in common law systems, the verdict is usually reached ‘on the balance of probabilities’ or ‘by a preponderance of the evidence’, and in criminal cases the case must be made ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. 503. The vast majority of electoral and/or procedural law incorporates, explicitly or implicitly, the general principle that the person or party who makes an allegation is under an obligation to prove it. Allegations may be of a positive type, claiming something as a fact, or negative, denying that something is a fact. Only disputed or controversial facts call for the production of evidence. The law itself is not subject to proof, nor are well-known facts or those which are impossible to prove. 504. These principles are generally accompanied by a presumption of the validity of administrative actions and decisions, that is, those carried out or made by the EMB. Accordingly, when an administrative electoral action is challenged as illegal or irregular, it is up to the party making the challenge to prove that the action challenged took place and is illegal or constitutes an irregularity. If the party making the challenge does not meet its burden of evidence, its claim is declared unfounded and the administrative electoral act by the EMB continues to be valid. b) Means of proof 505. The means of proof are those elements which make evidence persuasive in the mind of the EDRB. The objective of defining means of proof is to help enable the EDRB to make a decision based on sufficient elements of certainty within the time frame required by the electoral timetable. 165 7. Basic elements of EDR systems 501. Evidence includes any document, piece of testimony or tangible object that tends to prove or disprove an alleged fact. There are scant provisions in election codes about rules relating to evidence. In some cases the electoral law refers back to the codes of civil or administrative procedure. In countries in which a challenge is allowed before non-electoral judicial bodies, the rules of evidence are frequently governed by the procedural codes or laws applicable to the challenges that usually come before such bodies.