Chapter 2: Legal Frameworks for Effective Election Complaints Adjudication Systems tion management bodies are the most efficient places to start the process. To this end, EMBs need adequate funding and the capacity to investigate claims professionally and efficiently. • If complaints are about administrative actions or inactions of an election management body, such as denial of voter registration by a local commission or denial of candidate certification by a regional EMB, it is appropriate to permit that body to first reconsider its decision or correct mistakes. If not resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant, appeals of administrative decisions may then be reviewed by a higher election management body, with the possibility of judicial review by a court to decide if an injustice has been done. • Complaints alleging deliberate misconduct or fraud by an EMB, particularly in voting or vote counting, should be first directed to the highest EMB for review, with a right of appeal to courts. Courts should have discretion to affirm the decisions of EMBs without restarting the case. • Designating local courts as the point of entry for most electionrelated complaints places too much burden upon courts and uses them inefficiently. Exceptions must exist, of course, for situations of extreme urgency, such as voter registration or voting problems on the day of the election, where local courts must hear complaints, decide and act quickly to prevent irreparable harm. At the risk of complexity, election laws and regulations must clearly distinguish exceptions to the general rules to provide for early or special intervention by courts. • Complaints arising from elections are often unsubstantiated and based on hearsay and rumor. Sometimes it is the collective weight of many allegations that causes the most controversy in an election environment, rather than the substance of any one specific allegation or any convincing show of evidence.5 See generally John Hardin Young, Recounts, in International Election Principles: Democracy and the Rule of Law 301 (John Hardin Young ed., 2009). 5 115