Seeing what Citizens Miss
How Monitors Improve Election Violence Reporting
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10071536 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Leonardo R Arriola (0000-0002-4847-6150, University of California, Merced), Arsène Brice Bado (0000-0003-2398-8800, Département Sciences pour l’Action et le Développement), Justine Davis (0000-0002-9255-9914, University of Michigan, corresponding author), Allison N Grossman (0000-0001-6767-7815, Tulane University), Aila M Matanock (0000-0002-2472-2644, University of San Diego) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-16 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00220027261424861 |
| OpenAlex | W7129007489 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 56 |
Documenting election violence is central to safeguarding electoral integrity, but collecting such data is difficult. While citizen crowdsourcing is often seen as a cost-effective alternative to traditional monitoring, we argue that monitors offer unique advantages through their training and insulation from local pressures. Our field experiment during Côte d’Ivoire’s 2020 presidential election assessed whether monitors enhance election violence documentation when used alongside citizen reporting. We found that the presence of a monitor increased the likelihood of violence being reported by 10.7 percentage points without affecting citizen behavior. Monitors with more geographic experience were more likely to report incidents, regardless of their proximity to their home communities. These findings highlight the importance of monitors in revealing latent violence and in enhancing the scope and depth of reports. This demonstrates the critical value of monitors, even as crowdsourced data become more prevalent
Crowdsourcing · Documentation · Field (mathematics · Poison control · Presidential election · Safeguarding · Scope (computer science · Value (mathematics · Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media and Politics
Elections in Dangerous Places
Domestic Monitors
Beyond Free and Fair
Media Bias, Perspective, and State Repression
Electoral Protest and Democracy in the Developing World
Electoral Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa
The Pseudo-Democrat's Dilemma
Comparing ‘New’ and ‘Old’ Media for Violence Monitoring and Crisis Response
Crowdsourcing Accountability in a Nigerian Election
The Evolution of Monitoring
Which protests count? Coverage bias in Middle East event datasets
Civil Society Development and Democratic Values in Romania and Moldova
Does electoral observation influence electoral results? Experimental evidence for domestic and international observers in Mozambique
You scratch my back, and I scratch yours
Using Citizens for Community Journalism
The Observer Effect in International Politics
Can International Election Monitoring Harm Governance
Deterring or Displacing Electoral Irregularities? Spillover Effects of Observers in a Randomized Field Experiment in Ghana
Communication Technology and Reports on Political Violence
The Rise of Election Monitoring
Views to a Kill
Knowing What We Don’t
Crowdseeding in Eastern Congo
Introducing the Deadly Electoral Conflict Dataset (Deco)
Voter Intimidation as a Tool of Mobilization or Demobilization? Evidence from West Bengal, India
Stealing an Election
Information and Self-Enforcing Democracy
Who Is Punished? Regional Intergovernmental Organizations and the Enforcement of Democratic Norms
Assessing the Complex Evolution of Norms
Crowdsourcing election monitoring in the 2011–2012 Russian elections
Electoral violence prevention
A Closer Look at Reporting Bias in Conflict Event Data
The Election Monitor's Curse
Electoral Fraud or Violence
When Do Governments Resort to Election Violence
Systematic Measurement Error in Election Violence Data
The 2020 Ivorian election and the ‘third-term’ debate
The study of violence and social unrest in Africa
Patterns of Electoral Violence During Côte D’Ivoire’s Third-Term Crisis
International Election Monitoring
To Vote or Not to Vote
All quiet on election day? International election observation and incentives for pre-election violence in African elections
Does the world agree about standards of electoral integrity? Evidence for the diffusion of global norms
Electoral Violence in Conflict-Ridden Societies
Conceptualizing Election-Related Violence
Polls of fear? Electoral violence, incumbent strength, and voter turnout in Côte d'Ivoire
Electoral contention and violence (Ecav)
Carrots and sticks
The cost of exposing cheating
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |