https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/issue/feedItalian Journal of Electoral Studies (IJES)2023-12-31T00:00:00+00:00QOE Editorial Boardsilvia.bolgherini@unipg.itOpen Journal Systems<p><img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/Schermata_2020-07-31_alle_12.23_.52_.png" /></p> <hr /> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-4"><img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/Schermata_2020-07-17_alle_17.15_.11_.png" /> <br /><hr /><img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/etichetta_oa-24.png" width="86" height="76" /><strong>OPEN ACCESS</strong><br /><hr /> <p style="text-align: center;">Connect with us <br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/qoeijes/"><img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/facebook-round-icon1.png" width="44" height="44" /></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/QOE_IJES"><img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/xtwitter-icon-basic-round-social-iconset-s-icons-0-1024x1024.pagespeed_.ic_.wy06rAU4fv_1.png" width="44" height="44" /></a> <a href="mailto:QOE-IJES@studielettorali.it"><img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/vector-email-icon.jpg" width="44" height="44" /></a></p> </div> <div class="col-md-8"> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Quaderni dell'Osservatorio elettorale</strong><strong> (QOE) – Italian Journal of Electoral Studies (IJES) - </strong>is an international scientific journal dedicated to all different dimensions of elections and voting. Founded in 1977 by Mario Caciagli (University of Florence), QOE-IJES is a reference for electoral studies in Italy. Almost half a century later, QOE-IJES is now the official journal of the Italian Society for Electoral Studies (SISE), thanks to an agreement between SISE and the Regione Toscana. The Journal aims at continuing publishing high-quality original papers from both Italian and international scholars, with the aim to further becoming a major outlet of elections and voting, public opinion, political behavior, and party studies in Italy and beyond.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><em><strong>November 2022:</strong> QOE-IJES has been evaluated as <strong>Class A-Journal for Political Science (14/A2)</strong> in the latest 2022 official ranking of academic journals set up by the Italian Ministry of University and Research and its evaluation agency ANVUR. This status has been granted retroactively since 2020.</em></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><em><strong>!!!NEWS!!! November 2023: </strong></em><em>QOE - IJES has been accepted for <strong>Scopus</strong> indexing, underscoring its academic excellence and international relevance. The <strong>Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB)</strong> conducted a thorough review of QOE - IJES journal and recognised several key strengths: a) </em><em>Consistent publication of academically sound and relevant articles for an international academic and professional audience; b) </em><em>Alignment of journal content with the journal's scope and aims; c) </em><em>Addressing a subject area that is not adequately covered by existing journals.</em></p> <hr /> <div><strong>ISSN 2724-4679 (ONLINE) ISSN 0392-6753 (PRINT)</strong><br /><strong>QOE-IJES</strong></div> <div> </div> <div><strong>Editors in Chief</strong><br /><strong>Paolo Bellucci</strong>, University of Siena, Italy<br /><strong>Silvia Bolgherini</strong>, University of Perugia, Italy</div> <hr /></div> <hr /> <div><strong>QOE-IJES </strong>is indexed in:</div> <div> <img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/ebsco.png" width="123" height="45" /> <img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/IBSS_logo.png" width="123" height="auto" /> <img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/IPSA_logo.png" width="auto" height="42" /> <img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/DOAJ.png" width="199" height="61" /></div> </div> <hr /> <p><strong>QOE-IJES </strong>is now making articles available online after the acceptance.</p> <p><a href="https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/issue/view/734" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://oaj.fupress.net/public/site/images/piernoalessandro/Screenshot_2020-01-23_at_16.46__.53__.png" width="123" height="132" /></a></p> <hr />https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/14171Conceptualizing and measuring free and fair elections2023-03-01T19:39:05+00:00Marta Regaliamarta.regalia@uniupo.itStefano Rombisrombi@unica.it<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The quality of elections is a rapidly growing field of study. There are numerous research methods and analysis techniques to examine it. However, literature still needs to shed full light on one of the main concepts associated with this area of research. Often, scholars refer to the concept of “free and fair elections” without providing a precise definition and identifying the dimensions connected to it. This article aims to help fill this gap by proposing a theoretical and operational definition of free and fair elections. For this purpose, the ten dimensions that make up the concept and the procedures to be followed to arrive at their measurement are described in depth. At the end of the analysis, we propose an index that measures the level of freedom and fairness of the elections. </span></p>2023-10-26T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Marta Regalia, Stefano Rombihttps://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/14082Esclusi per legge. “Non-eligible voters” come categoria negletta delle democrazie contemporanee 2023-02-09T16:42:37+00:00Dario Tuortodario.tuorto@unibo.it<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The inclusiveness of the electoral moment (of all adults) is one of the fundamental criteria of the modern democratic process based on universal suffrage (Dahl 2000, 37-8). However, there is always a greater or lesser difference between the number of people who are theoretically eligible to vote (VAP, voting-age population) and the number of people who can actually vote (VEP, voting-eligible population), i.e. who are legally entitled to take part in the elections. Although lower than in the US case (McDonald 2001), where some social groups are discouraged from voting by compulsory registration procedures (Avery and Peffley 2005; Delwin 2013), the gap between different measures of voter turnout is also found in Europe (Geys 2006; Tuorto 2022). The aim of this article is to compare the EU-27 countries (+ UK) in terms of criteria for the inclusion/exclusion of those social groups that are most likely to be subject to temporary or permanent restrictions on their electoral participation, in terms of specific conditions and/or public behavior. In particular, the article examines the situation of four categories of voters: people with disabilities (mental and physical), felons, non-resident citizens (nationals abroad) and resident non-citizens (immigrants). The heterogeneity of the situation found within the European countries highlights on the existence of significant legislative and cultural differences that can be traced back to dominant social representations and the normative translation of these representations. The systematic removal or exclusion of certain social groups from the electoral process poses a problem for the legitimacy of the democratic procedures, while legal, administrative, and symbolic barriers render electoral results incomplete and at least partially distorted.</span></p> <p class="p2">Keywords: non-citizen residents, eligible voters, turnout</p>2023-05-12T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Dario Tuortohttps://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/14083L’Italia che non vota: dinamiche e propagazione spazio-temporale dell’astensionismo2023-02-15T11:10:09+00:00Alessandra Ferraraferrara@istat.itGiovanni Lombardolombardo@istat.itFrancesco Giovanni Trugliatruglia@istat.it<p class="p1">Abstentionism is also on the rise in Italy. Its significance, both politically and socially, is evidenced not only by the number of voters who did not go to the polls, but also by the territorial spread of the phenomenon. In this paper, the authors summarise the dynamics of the quantitative dimension of electoral abstention and, using an appropriate statistical-methodological instrumentation, through an analysis of the spatial-temporal propagation forms (spatial spillovers) they also highlight where this behaviour is most deeply rooted and how it has spread. The analysis on the overall dimension of the phenomenon is complemented by an in-depth exploration (in paragraph 2) that describes the weight of certain components of involuntary abstentionism. These, which are certainly less analysed than voluntary abstentionism, are treated in view of their growing potential as drivers of the phenomenon, as a consequence of both demographic dynamics and the evolution of specific social behaviour.</p>2023-07-04T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Alessandra Ferrara, Giovanni Lombardo, Francesco Giovanni Trugliahttps://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/14081Quality of elections. Definition and measures, with an application to the Italian case2023-05-22T09:06:51+00:00Stefano Rombirombistefano@gmail.comFulvio Venturinofventurino@unica.it<p class="p1">The study of the quality of elections is spreading very rapidly. This article aims to provide a general overview of the state of the art to introduce an empirical analysis of the quality of elections for the Italian parliament. After reviewing the definitions of ‘quality of elections’, the article thoroughly examines the two main measurement tools. One is based on the experts’ perceptions and promoted as part of the Electoral Integrity Project. The other is based on objective data called the Elections Performance Index. Finally, the article applies the measurement method based on the residual vote to the Italian case.</p>2023-09-20T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2023 Stefano Rombi, Fulvio Venturinohttps://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/15542Quality of elections in Italy: a promising research field. Special issue introduction2023-12-18T11:48:57+00:00Stefano Rombisrombi@unica.itFulvio Venturinofventurino@unica.it<p>Elections have become a common practice worldwide. This is partly a consequence of the spread of democracy beyond Western regions, a process that began in the second wave of democratization and has continued since the 1970s, when a third wave commenced. Additionally, it is due to the emergence of political systems that blend electoral procedures with a flawed application of the rule of law. As a result of the increasing importance of these so-called hybrid regimes, labels such as ‘illiberal democracy’ and ‘electoral authoritarianism’ are widely used – albeit somewhat criticized – in the field of comparative politics.<br />While different types of political systems utilize elections, their function is not the same everywhere. Only in liberal democracies are elections a means of selecting rulers. However, even in those cases where effective competition exists, flaws may affect the electoral procedures. This explains why the quality of elections concept has gained significant relevance in recent research. But what exactly does ‘quality of elections’ mean?</p>2023-12-31T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Stefano Rombi, Fulvio Venturino