As Australia's former electoral commissioner, I learned that trust is not abstract for election bodies. It is practical, hard won, and easily lost. Built step by step, it can disappear in a single misstep. In an era of mis and disinformation, reputation determines authority. Credibility decides whether people believe the result. This book sets out the work required to earn and protect that trust.

Tom Rogers AO, former Australian Electoral Commissioner

Gaudi, architectural genius of Sagrada Familla, teaches 'first you need love, then technique'. People are good at loving democracy, bad at technique. Laanela's brilliant book remedies that neglect. How do nascent democracies make elections work with integrity, building institutional trust ? Why does distrust spiral to more distrust, false rumours, war? The book reveals in a practical way that both technical delivery imperatives and relational confidence-building must converge. Then the challenges are met. Marriage of emotion with technique. Evocative analysis of stakeholder viewpoints uncover how predictability leavens and butters the bread of stable democracies. Laanela recounts compelling stories of how trust lost is flipped to trust found. Relational skills of electoral management bodies turn high electoral emotions from a threat to a resource, even to joy in people power. Stories in this revealing book show that pathways for redress are one essence of accomplishing great democracies.

John Braithwaite, Professor Emeritus, Australian National University