The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network is a web portal with information on elections designed to meet the needs of people working in the electoral field.
Goals
The goal of the ACE network is to provide knowledge to people working in the field elections, with the intention of supporting credible and transparent electoral processes with emphasis on sustainability, professionalism and trust.
Most activities of the ACE network are carried out through the ACE website. The website is divided into a number of sections:
Elections today contains information on current affairs in elections, such as news articles, upcoming events and an election calendar.
Encyclopaedia presents texts and articles on a number of electoral topics.
Comparative Data provides statistics and data on election-related topics.
Electoral Materials is a virtual library with sample materials from different countries.
Support and Advice holds information on areas of electoral support and links to the ACE expert network.
Regions and Countries is a portal page for region- or country-specific information.
About ACE has more information about the ACE network and its structure.
The full website is fully available in English while much content is also available in Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian.
The ACE Experts
Part of ACE is the Practitioners' Network – an online community of experts in the field of elections. The members of the Practitioners’ Network share a private online platform where they discuss electoral issues, exchange experiences and connect to fellow experts. Any user can submit a question to the Practitioners’ Network; the question will be discussed among the experts and the expert replies forwarded to the user. The Practitioners’ Network is open to applications; membership of the network is free but members are required to have “several years of experience of working in a senior position for one or a number of organisations within the electoral field” and/or “proven expertise” in a specific area of elections.
History
The ACE network was created in 1998 as the ACE Project by International IDEA, IFES and UNDESA. At this time, the project focused solely on election administration with the aim to create an encyclopaedia with texts on how to administer electoral processes. However, the project developed further into a more interactive network with a focus wider than just electoral administration. In 2006, to reflect the new identity of the project, the name was changed to the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network.
