From the Cambridge Analytica scandal to overloaded internet voting servers to faulty voting machines, the growing relationship between democracy and technology has brought to light the challenges associated with integrating new digital tools into the electoral system. Canadian politics has also felt the impact of this migration online.

This timely book presents the first comprehensive study of the various cyber-threats to election integrity across Canadian jurisdictions. Scrutinizing the events of the 2019 federal election, Cyber-Threats to Canadian Democracy examines how new technologies have affected the practice of electoral politics and what we can do to strengthen future Canadian elections. Through the disciplines of political science, law, computer science, engineering, communications, and others, chapters shed light on some of the most contentious issues around technology and electoral integrity. The contributors address current domestic and foreign threats to Canadian elections, evaluate the behaviour of actors ranging from political parties and interest groups to policymakers and election administrators, and assess emerging legal and regulatory responses while anticipating future challenges to the quality of elections in Canada and around the globe.

Cyber-Threats to Canadian Democracy helps seed the study of digital technology’s security risks, providing insight into what reforms are needed and evaluating existing legal and policy frameworks in light of these threats.

Elections around the world are plagued with the problem of unequal levels of participation. This can have profound consequences for election results, representation and policies. This book focuses on the interventions that can be used to redress the turnout gap and other inequalities within the electoral process.

The book defines the concept of inclusive voting practices to refer to policy instruments which can reduce turnout inequality between groups and mitigate other inequalities within the electoral process. Studies from around the world then examine how policies can affect inclusivity on election day. This includes research on enfranchising felons and migrant communities; compulsory voting; voter ID requirements; voter registration practices; investment in electoral management; gendered electoral violence; accessible voting practices; and overseas voting. As a result, this book will be of interest to scholars of democracy, democratic theory and elections, as well as having major policy implications worldwide.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Policy Studies.

Following a normative approach that suggests international norms and standards for elections apply universally, regardless of regime type or cultural context, this book examines the challenges to electoral integrity, the actors involved, and the consequences of electoral malpractice and poor electoral integrity that vary by regime type. It bridges the literature on electoral integrity with that of political regime types.

Looking specifically at questions of innovation and learning, corruption and organized crime, political efficacy and turnout, the threat of electoral violence and protest, and finally, the possibility of regime change, it seeks to expand the scholarly understanding of electoral integrity and diverse regimes by exploring the diversity of challenges to electoral integrity, the diversity of actors that are involved and the diversity of consequences that can result.

This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of electoral studies, and more broadly of relevance to comparative politics, international development, political behaviour and democracy, democratization, and autocracy.