The Mexican Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary and The GovLab Partner to Promote Open Justice and Innovation

The Mexican Electoral Tribunal is Mexico’s highest court dedicated to the resolution of electoral disputes, such as objections to the conduct of an election or the demand for a recount. As such, it plays a vital role in strengthening Mexico’s democracy and ensuring the rule of law. 

Now, to enhance the work of the court, the Tribunal, with the support of The GovLab, a global, nonpartisan nonprofit that uses new technology to improve governance and deepen democracy, are partnering on an Open Justice Initiative (in Spanish “Programa de Acción del TEPJF en Alianza a la Justicia y el Gobierno Abierto”) to bring innovation to the Electoral Tribunal. Open Justice focuses on strategies for using data and community input to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and accountability of legal institutions.

Beginning next week, we will kick off the Open Justice Initiative with a series of Problem Definition workshops with the justices, staff, litigants and those interested in the functioning of the Electoral Tribunal. The goal of the workshops is to diagnose the challenges that need to be addressed.

If you are an NGO, academic, legal tech expert, public servant from the electoral tribunal, a key player in the electoral system or someone with constructive ideas to share, join us for these workshops, which will apply a rigorous process of root cause analysis and human-centered design to diagnosing pain points and opportunities for improvement.

By running these workshops, the Open Justice Initiative hopes to embed more open, collaborative and data-driven ways of working into the culture of the organization to ensure the sustainability of the initiative.

During the workshops, we will look at key issues raised by the strategic plan of the Electoral Tribunal:

• Open data for an open, digital, collaborative and transparent Court
• Digitalization for an efficient and effective Court
• An independent and trustworthy Tribunal
• Professionalism for Tribunal integrity 
• Intersectionality and inclusiveness in a court that protects everybody´s rights 

Following the problem definition workshops, we will next ask Tribunal Staff for solutions to the identified problems.

In addition, the Initiative will appoint a group of technical advisors with proficiency in state-of-the-art technologies that will advise the Electoral Tribunal on best practices and recommendations for open justice programs. 

This combination of internal and external experts will inform an implementation plan to spur open innovation, technological advances, and open justice in the work of the Electoral Tribunal.

The Initiative will support the Mexican Electoral Tribunal in creating a path forward that will best serve its mission to prioritize the needs of the public and strengthen the principles of open justice. The results of this program will go beyond offering a blueprint to lead the Tribunal´s strategy on open justice and tech for justice in the coming years, it will lead to the implementation of concrete and impactful innovation projects in the near term.

Click here to read the official press release by the Mexican Electoral Tribunal. 

If you are interested in participating or learning more about this initiative please contact: valeria@thegovlab.org