Making sure that people understand the voters' list (voting rolls, voter registry), decide to register, are able to register and can register correctly poses significant challenges for educators. Voter registration has become an essential prerequisite to the act of voting.
With a few transitional exceptions where it was perceived that voter registration could not be achieved, or where a decision was made to err on the side of inclusion, voters have to be registered in order to vote. Establishing a voters' list and then maintaining it in an accurate way provides a number of challenges for voters, contestants, and administrators. [1]
As a result, educators will take a keen interest in the regulations and systems being instituted to manage the voter registration process. In many instances, registration has come with qualifications. In the past, these were often used to disenfranchise some eligible voters. But in countries where the onus for registration is on the individual, rather than the state, even administrative arrangements can create hurdles that can ultimately have the effect of disqualifying voters. These can require considerable motivation to overcome.
Motivation can be to some extent encouraged through education, through political organising, when the electoral system and government are perceived to be,efficient, and where representation makes a difference. Without the incentive to register, mechanisms to register, and the possibility of having one's registration properly recorded, education programmes that encourage individual voters to register may have little impact. Indeed, political lobbying as well as education for registrars and other responsible officials may be as important as the voter education programme itself.
Once the systems for voter registration have been determined, educators can establish a programme. The programme should deal with:
- the reasons for registration
- the benefits of registration
- the manner in which registration is conducted
- how to check the details of that registration
- how to correct one's registration if it is wrong and
- the timetable for registering or correcting one's registration
Individuals also belong to political parties, and to citizen groups. Thus they will therefore want to understand:
- ways in which the voters list protects them against electoral abuse
- how to challenge the lists
- how the lists will be used on Election Day
- where the list will be displayed
- how to read and interpret the lists and
- the timetable for challenging the lists or requesting modifications
In situations where registration is continuous, voter education may have to be done through existing systems of education and governance. Because voters' lists are closed to changes at some point prior to an election, citizens need to be regularly reminded that they need to register or check their registration details. This should also be a component of any voter education directed at young people who will be registering and voting for the first time.
Where registration is seasonal or the register is subject to a major revision before an election, there might be a proposal to conduct a national voter education programme to support the registration process. Such a programme should be considered in all aspects as an educational intervention. Educators should therefore go through a full educational design cycle (see Design Cycle)
Pre-Election Educational Campaign
There are special considerations because of the very specific nature of a voter registration programme and the urgency of a likely educational campaign. Examples of registration campaigns can be seen at Budapest, Hungary - Local Government Election Registration. (These are manuals that may take some time to download.)
In particular, educators will have to try to ensure that potential voters get to the registration points at the right time. In addition, voters will have to understand the importance of voter registration. And this is not an obvious matter when the primary beneficiaries of voter registration apparently are the administrators rather than the voters themselves.
Motivation, therefore, becomes an important aspect of the educational programme. Unlike elections where there is a contest that serves to energise voters, registration to vote may be met with an apathetic response causing voters to miss the necessary deadlines.
Notes:
[1] Details of how to establish and maintain a voters register are reviewed in Voter Registration.
