For an organisation to be successful in fulfilling its voter education mandate and the aims of its programme, it must engage those who have a primary stake in the outcome of that programme. Stakeholders need to be informed about the programme, and their acceptance and support sought. It is likely that all participants in the electoral process will feel that they have a right to comment on, participate in, and assess the effectiveness of the programme. They may choose not to exercise this right. Even so, some people may choose to criticise or even undermine the programme.
Wise educators will go out of their way, therefore, to frame their mission and sense of purpose as well as establish the aims and parameters of the programme with all the primary stakeholders. This interaction can be planned, but often it will also involve unanticipated activities (see Mechanisms For Partnerships). At times, it may even ignite a measure of public controversy. This is not unwelcome, provided it does not become counterproductive or diminish the credibility or self-esteem of the educators.
Three Constituencies
There are always three stakeholder constituencies involved in an election:
Election management authority: In many cases, election legislation will establish an Election Management Body or designate a government agency responsible for administering elections. Depending upon the organisational structure of this body, there may be specific departments responsible for such areas as voter education, public relations, training, regulatory drafting, election preparations, and so on. There may be other statutory bodies as well, such as the legislative institutions themselves, security organisations, or local governments, that have some responsibility to support election preparations.
The contestants: The primary contestants in an election are the candidates who are running independently or being put forward by registered political parties, public organisations or groups of voters. Within their own campaign organisations and often with the help of political party structures, the contestants may have resources dedicated to such activities as voter information and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) activities.
The electorate: The third group of stakeholders is comprised of all those who are eligible to vote. The electorate can be considered at large; segmented into groups, such as women voters, young and first time voters, or military voters; and in terms of more formal organisations and associations described in shorthand as civil society. The latter, a large and amorphous grouping, has variously, and in some cases erroneously, been described as the independent, non-governmental, or voluntary sector. Civil society plays an important role in voter education because of its ability to mobilise in favour of public interest activities, its capacity to reach out to a wide range of different audiences, and its potential resources.
Elections are about both competition and collaboration. Voter educators exploit the collaborative behaviour of all three stakeholders to ensure their acceptance of and support for their programmes.
