Even as several Latin American countries have regressed to authoritarian rule in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, elections remain permanent and vital features of the region’s political life.

Kevin Pallister provides an accessible overview of elections throughout Latin America, including formal electoral institutions, informal practices, and the behavior of voters and candidates. Through a wide-ranging synthesis of scholarly literature and sources, it offers a descriptive and analytical look at how elections in the region work, from the legal rules of the game to the final counting of the votes, and provides an even-handed discussion of its complexities such as electoral integrity, gender quotas, the role of social media, corruption in campaign finance, and how elections can be instruments of both democracy and autocracy.

This comprehensive narrative, from Mexico to Argentina, is complemented with illustrative examples, case studies, and data. By understanding how elections in Latin America work as flawed but indispensable institutions of democracy, students and other readers will enhance their knowledge of contemporary Latin American politics and the important process of democratization in the region.