In this interview Mr. O’Donnell talks about his role as principal of a school used as a polling place. Mr. O’Donnell discusses his accepted role as a leader in the community and his apolitical efforts to decrease election violence. He describes the use of local resources and personal connections as a means of easing mobs and reducing damage. Mr. O’Donnell also provides is own analysis on why violence decreased when it did and what is to come in the future for Ireland.Mr. Charles O’Donnell was the principal of Holy Child Primary School in Creggan, Northern Ireland from 1990 to 2008. Mr. O’Donnell has a teaching certification and taught in another Creggan school, St. John’s, for the first part of his career. In his role as principal of Holy Child, Mr. O’Donnell assumed leadership in the community and after his school was selected as a polling place, was active in elections. At the time of the interview, he was retired and living in Creggan.

Case Study:  Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Elections in Northern Ireland, 2005

Douglas Bain discusses his role as chief electoral officer with the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.  Bain talks about several methods he instituted to bolster trust and confidence in the Electoral Office, including having his staff mask as voters and approach staff at local election offices in order to test the local staff’s responsiveness to a variety of questions and requests.  Bain also discusses his efforts to ensure the accuracy of voter registration forms to defend against voter fraud. Looking to future elections, he suggests greater transparency in the voting process can be accomplished through increased public outreach by election officials.  Bain also stresses the need for greater efforts to combat voter intimidation by the political parties.

Case Study: Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Elections in Northern Ireland, 2005

Shukri Ismail discusses the formation and work of Somaliland’s first national election commission. She explains the difficulties the commission faced organizing Somaliland’s first elections, which included a difficult voter registration process, setting the election timetable and dealing with weak and newly formed state institutions and untested election law. Ismail also discusses the difficulties with political party formation, hiring and training election staff and the potential for violence when the commission ultimately determined the presidential election had been won by 80 votes. She also touches on working with international consultants, the electoral commission’s relationship with the media, the role of the clan in Somaliland’s elections, the lessons learned from Somaliland’s first elections and the challenges still ahead.

Case Study:  Nurturing Democracy in the Horn of Africa: Somaliland's First Elections, 2002-2005

Barney O’Hagan discusses his role as a politician and community leader in Derry, Northern Ireland, in particular his involvement in and reflections about the first peaceful elections witnessed in Derry in memory. He describes the idea of removing police presence from the polling stations as integral to ending election-related violence. O'Hagan highlights the role of Sinn Fein, the political party with which he is affiliated, but he also describes encouraging local, a-political leaders to to promote the removal of police personnel from polling stations in order to give the proposal greater legitimacy. O'Hagan's account of the history of The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the evolution of the situation in Derry, particularly following the Good Friday Peace Agreement, provides context within which dampening election violence can be studied.

Case Study: Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Elections in Northern Ireland, 2005

Magnus Öhman discusses Sierra Leone’s 2007 elections.  He explains the considerations necessary during election sequencing, the current legal and constitutional framework for elections in Sierra Leone, and the various successes and challenges of Sierra Leone’s recent elections.  He describes the responsibilities of the National Electoral Commission, the legal framework that governs it, and its successes and challenges.  He also explains the training of poll workers, the boundary delimitation process, voter registration, and the various safeguards against fraud during both registration and voting.  Öhman also touches on the development of political parties in Sierra Leone, problems with the involvement of donor countries and international organizations, and the role of the media in elections.    

Case Study:  Mediating Election Conflict in a Bruised Society: Code of Conduct Monitoring Committees in Post-War Sierra Leone, 2006-2012

Alex Paila discusses various aspects of national and local election management in Sierra Leone during 2007 and 2008. These areas include the recruitment, training, evaluation and monitoring of election staff; election security; voter registration, audits and curtailment of voter fraud; information dissemination, media relations and enfranchisement of marginalized groups; and financial and logistical constraints and concerns.  He also emphasizes cooperation with community-based civilian organizations as key for information dissemination and higher voter turnouts, and he stresses relations with international organizations to improve workers’ training and monitoring, and secure funding. Paila also speaks about the issues of districting and determining electoral timetables.  Finally, he reflects upon some of the challenges faced by Sierra Leone during the elections in 2007 and 2008, as well as possible hurdles that the country may face in the future.