Michael Yard is a recognized international election administration and technology expert with over 25 years of experience. He has advised election authorities in over 15 countries and serves as IFES Chief of Party in Kenya and Uganda.

Yard has provided authoritative technical assistance on election technology and systems for voter and candidate registration, political finance tracking and reporting, procurement, logistics, fleet management, vote tabulation and results dissemination. He joined IFES as a technical manager in Ghana in 1994 and has consulted on projects throughout Africa, Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia, South America and the Middle East. He also has worked on voter registration, database and data entry projects with Election Reform International Services, the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nations Election Administration Division. He is the editor of Direct Democracy: Progress and Pitfalls of Election Technology and Civil and Voter Registries: Lessons Learned from Global Experiences, both published by IFES.

Yard has an MBA in information systems from City University in Bellevue, Washington, and a B.A. in English literature from the University of Illinois in Springfield. He also has completed graduate studies in theology, counseling and education. He speaks basic Spanish and French.

• Annex to Final Project Report, Republic of Tajikistan, October 1, 1997 - September 30, 2002: Comprehensive Proposal for Electronic Voter Registration (1998-1999)
• IFES, December 2002
• Election Modernization and Voter Education, Republic of the Philippines: Interim Report, September - December 1996
• IFES, March 1997
• Voter Registration Modernization: A Case Study of the Canadian System of Voter Registration
• June 26, 2009
• Upcoming Guide to Best Practices on Civil and Voter Registries
• July 2, 2009
• Civil and Voter Registries: Lessons Learned from Global Experiences
• June 15, 2011
• Direct Democracy: Progress and Pitfalls of Election Technology
• September 30, 2010
• Annex to Final Project Report, Republic of Tajikistan, October 1, 1997 - September 30, 2002: Comprehensive Proposal for Electronic Voter Registration (1998-1999)
• IFES, December 2002
• Election Modernization and Voter Education, Republic of the Philippines: Interim Report, September - December 1996
• IFES, March 1997