Mid-term Congressional Elections, 8 November 2022

Long Term Observation

Following an invitation to observe the mid-term congressional elections scheduled for 8 November 2022 in the United States of America, based on the findings and conclusions of the Needs Assessment Mission deployed between 23 and 27 May 2022, and in accordance with its mandate, ODIHR deployed a Limited Election Observation Mission (LEOM) for these elections. The ODIHR LEOM commenced its activities in Washington, D.C. on 26 September 2022. The mission is led by Tana de Zulueta (Italy) and consists of a core team of 17 experts from 14 participating States, based in Washington, D.C. In addition, 40 long-term observers have been deployed throughout the country from 4 October. The mission will assess whether the elections are held in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with federal and state legislation.

Observers will closely follow fundamental components of the election such as:

• The legal framework, including federal and state election legislation;
• Election administration, including voter registration, voter identification, alternative voting mechanisms and measures to ensure secrecy of the vote;
• Constituency delimitation and the mechanisms for delimitation;
• New voting technologies, focusing on the type of technology used in the elections, certification and evaluation of these technologies;
• The campaign environment;
• Campaign finance; and
• Coverage of these elections by the media, including online media.

Election Day

In its Needs Assessment Mission report, ODIHR recommended an Election Observation Mission (EOM) that would include, in addition to a core team of analysts, 100 long-term observers as well as 400 short-term observers (STOs) for observation of election day procedures. However, as ODIHR did not receive a sufficient number of STOs from participating States, a statistically valid observation of election day proceedings was no longer possible. Against this backdrop, ODIHR took the decision to change the format of the observation activity deployed from an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to a Limited Election Observation Mission (LEOM). In line with ODIHR standard methodology for LEOMs, the mission will not carry out a comprehensive or systematic observation of election-day proceedings, but intends to visit a number of polling stations on election day. The day after the elections, ODIHR will issue a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions at a press conference. A final report on the observation of the entire electoral process will be issued approximately eight weeks after the end of the electoral process.

Co-operation with Other Partners

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is planning to deploy an observer delegation for these elections.

Previous Elections

ODIHR has previously observed nine elections in the USA most recently the general elections in November 2020.