Michael Boda, D.Phil., Ph.D. Email & Phone Number

Canada

Regina, Canada

Independent Officer of Legislative Assembly holding statutory office of Chief Electoral Officer. Lead team of 180 that engages and trains more than 12,000 election workers to conduct provincial electoral events. Engage broadly with public and civil society sectors across Saskatchewan and Canada. Collaborate with voters, political party representatives and candidates, politicians, senior officials of the public service, First Nations Chiefs, journalists, academics and other thought leaders. Oversee and publish research that evaluates and recommends improvements to democratic and electoral institutions in Saskatchewan, Canada and beyond.

Washington, Dc - Oxford, United Kingdom

Practice provided support to senior election administrators in both established and developing democracies. Mission focused on facilitating best practice and international standards in election administration, electoral law and assessment. Among Contracts: United Nations Development Programme (New York), United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (New York), The Carter Center (Atlanta), IFES (Washington), OSCE (Warsaw), Inter-Parliamentary Union (Geneva) in coordination with the Ford Foundation (New York), National Association of Secretaries of State (Washington, DC) in coordination with Booz Allen Hamilton (Northern Virginia), and the UK Electoral Commission (London/Edinburgh).

Amman, Jordan

Offered advice on reform to Jordan's approach to election administration, focusing on issues related to an independent election management body.

Islamabad, Pakistan

As senior international legal advisor, established and oversaw drafting group leading to model unified election legislation for Pakistan, including model provisions for reforming Pakistan’s Constitution. Offered advice to Election Commission, government ministries, USAID and other international actors for law reform.

Atlanta, Georgia

Offered advice to institution and partner organizations on assessing elections in manner consistent with public international law, regional legal sources, and documents produced by election-related institutions, leading to CC’s Database of Obligations for Democratic Elections. Provided guidance on institution’s election observation methodology.

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Served as Director of the Review and deputy reviewer (with Reviewer Ron Gould, former Assistant Chief Electoral Officer of Canada). Engaged by the UK Electoral Commission to conduct an independent review of the Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections due to political, legislative and administrative problems. Consulted broadly with Scottish electoral stakeholders and voting public. Oversaw team of thirteen. Lead writer of report issued to UK Parliament, fulfilling Commission’s statutory responsibility. Testified before Parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee in January 2008.

Washington, Dc

Research Fellow, National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Washington, DC. Established a mechanism for assessing the quality of elections based on public international law and best practices of election administration. Conducted seminar on U.S. electoral processes and presented research findings. Project funding awarded by the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Program in the International Forum at the NED.

Geneva, Switzerland

Engaged as Inter-Parliamentary Union spokesperson at OSCE meetings in Warsaw and Vienna focusing on electoral standards. Moderated roundtable on election assessment and edited resulting publication entitled Revisiting Free & Fair Elections (IPU, 2005).

Washington, Dc

Conducted research and wrote on implementing public-sector accountability mechanisms. Particular focus on determining how best to measure success and failure in administration of elections. Project funding awarded by Pew Chartable Trust.

Washington, Dc

Offered advice and writing for Secretaries of State in their consideration of components needed for Help America Vote Act (2002).

Washington, Dc

+ Deputy Director, International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), Washington, DC (1997-2000). Senior staff member responsible for research and content management, overseeing Information Resources division. Supervised and managed core staff of seven, multiple substantive consultants, and up to ten part-time employees and interns each summer in implementing research and information projects, requiring a background in public policy, social scientific methodology, information technology, and library science. Offered instruction to visiting government officials, diplomats, election officials, and academics in approaches to conducting elections abroad. In 1997, co-led observation of Albania’s second-round elections as part of the OSCE’s team in Shkoder. In 1996 and 1998, led IFES observation efforts in Northern Virginia and District of Columbia for international participants. Appointed Deputy Director in 1997, Acting Director in 1999 before pursuing graduate studies.

Washington, Dc

+ Senior Editor, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Washington, DC (1995-2000). Responsible for institution’s web and print-based resources: + Administration and Cost of Elections Encyclopedia (www.aceproject.org): Established and managed a global web-based project aimed at facilitating better performance of public employees involved in administering elections.+ CNN/IFES Election Watch: Established and managed on-air and web-based project aimed at fostering public awareness of scheduled elections. In partnership with CNN, aired forty-five second vignettes five-times daily on CNN-International+ ElectionGuide.org: Established and managed election data collection project designed for provide information on elections+ Elections Today: As editor, with staff of three, oversaw content development, assignments and production, and successfully attracted advertisers.

Dphil, Law

Phd, Political Science

Ma, International Relations

Bachelor Of Arts (Honours), History

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