Measuring electoral quality is like chasing a moving target. Just as election management professionals improve their skills, other factors change and evolve, impacting the quality of elections. The introduction of new technologies (including voting machines and the internet), the use of social media, the role of private sector service providers, public tender, and procurement processes, are only a few of the ever-changing factors. Measuring electoral quality assesses the integrity of an elections' adherence with international standards as the baseline.

The tools and methodologies used for measuring the quality of elections are many and diverse; election observer methodologies, the electoral cycle, performance indicators, and election integrity assessment methodologies are all common practice when measuring electoral quality. The electoral cycle, for example, offers a framework for measuring electoral quality that is universally agreed upon and which organizes all the components of an electoral process into three phases: the pre-election period, the election period and the post-election period. Various scoring systems, both quantitative and qualitative methods are utilized to assess distinct elements of electoral processes. The findings of the various assessments and evaluations of elections are used by election management professionals, political parties and candidates, voters, and election observers to improve their skills and inform their experiences. The practice of supporting and measuring the quality of elections remains a central act in democratic life.

The Measuring Electoral Quality Encyclopedia topic is an introduction to existing methodologies used to assess the conduct of elections under the rubric of “measuring electoral quality.”  Although most of the techniques examined here are well known, they will be grouped into several basic typologies to distinguish the qualities they share, how their methodologies differ and the range of findings they produce. The topic will also introduce the range of individual, national and international actors involved in measuring electoral quality, as well as the various approaches they implement in doing so.