Distrust Breeds Bureaucracy: Democratization and the Formal Regulation of Electoral Governance in Mexico

In contemporary Mexico, political parties have subjected electoral authorities to tight legal regulation. Their reliance on “bureaucratic” control sheds light on a crucial premise of “postbureaucratic” approaches—that deregulation presupposes trust. This article describes distrust-driven regulation in three areas: record keeping, the identification of voters and ballots, and time rules. It concludes with reflections on the potential costs of bureaucratizing electoral governance.