ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the different parts of and options available to an electoral system. It also introduces the reader to some of the consequences of electoral design for party systems and discusses how countries can create electoral monitoring boards and use foreign observers to foster confidence in election returns. An electoral system uses voting to measure preferences and make decisions. There are five main components to any electoral system namely: electoral formula, district magnitude, electoral threshold, ballot structure, and districting/apportionment. To reassure the skeptical, governments in Latin America and elsewhere have created independent electoral management bodies (EMBs) to administrate elections. The chapter ends with a look at recent electoral changes in Bolivia. Bolivia presents an interesting case study that illustrates how the craftsmanship of electoral design must ultimately answer to real political divisions in society. Smaller departments in Bolivia can take some comfort in an electoral system than provides some representational advantage for them.
