Voter Background

Time spent understanding the voters who are eligible to participate in an election helps to ensure the the voter education programme adequately meets the needs of the electorate, which is the ultimate purpose of the undertaking, and not just conforming with some pre-conceived notion of those charged with educating voters.

Even if there are regular elections, educators cannot assume they know everything there is to know about the particular electorate for the next election. First, there will always be people who will be voting for the first time. This may involve young people who have just reached the age requirement for voting. It may involve those who have recently been granted citizenship and are eligible to vote for the first time. Or it may even involve previously apathetic voters who have been energized by a particular issue, candidate, or political party get-out-the-vote (GOTV) effort.

In addition, neither a particular group of voters nor the electoral system itself should be considered static. Even those who vote regularly may have new concerns or may have developed new socioeconomic lifestyles. Such factors can make a difference both to the type of information that needs to be communicated and the method by which it is communicated. Also there may be changes to the electoral system, such as the application of new technologies or changes in ballot design to accomodate an increased number of candidates or public initiatives, that will need to be emphasized and explained through education.

Recent events in the State of Florida, during the 2000 presidential elections in the U.S., demonstrate how even in a relatively developed election system, inadequate voter education with respect to both experienced and first time voters can have significant ramifications relative to the efficiency of election administration, the efficacy of each vote, and the determiniation of election results.

In transitional societies and developing countries there will be a plethora of reasons to conduct voter education programmes. Due to the youthfulness of the population, expansion of the franchise, or the even the novelty of elections at all or some levels, there will be a significant number of first time voters. And the constitutional and legal framework for elections as well as procedures for registering to vote and casting ballots, may be radically different than in the past.

In addition to the more specific information which will be considered in Assessing Voter Needs, education planners will want to get reliable demographic information that includes:

• where people live
• how many people live there
• cultural and religious norms
• literacy and schooling levels
• levels of voter participation in previous elections

Consideration of Demographics in Shaping Voter Education

Who Lives Where?

This question may be the first and most basic question educators need to ask when developing a universal programme, whether it is national, regional, or local in scope. In fact, the word demography is closely related to democracy and might be said to be a basis for discussions about representation and governance.

Census Information

The question of who lives where is usually answered through a national census. Where these are conducted regularly by credible organizations in circumstances where there is no incentive to avoid being counted and where there is no likelihood of administrative error during the count or during the processing of results, there will be reliable data available for educators. In transitional settings, however, when borders have been redrawn or where there has been significant migration of or changes in the population, there may be no timely census data available. This may be the result either of the fluidity of the political environment, limited or nonexistant financial resources, or the absense of an experienced and publicly accepted institution to carry out a census.

Ideally, data collected through a census should include information about age groups, such as how many people there are of different age groups, gender and socioeconomic data, and some basic household information. All this will be available according to geographic area, and these geographic areas may include very small areas designed for enumeration. All this valuable information may be available on geographic information systems (GIS) software which enables very close map-based planning. Or it may be presented in charts and graphs, booklets, or tables. In some transitional settings, even if the will and the means exist to collect population data, it may be very difficult to obtain such information from a government agency that does not operate in a transparent manner or does not consider itself accountable to the public.

The manner in which these counts can take place varies according to the type of society and the resources available. In general, a census is a complete count of every single household, and for this reason they are done periodically, usually every five or ten years. A census can be expensive and requires considerable planning. Countries may try to ensure that a census and a national election do not coincide.

They are also controversial. The results of a census are used for national planning and for demarcation of election boundaries (see Population Data). In many countries the numbers of people in each state or region has a direct bearing on the number of people who can be elected from that state or region. For this reason, the results of a census are likely to be scrutinised very carefully. The questions that are asked determine what information is available to planners and politicians, and can affect national perceptions of an area, especially if it is found to have a large number of people who speak a particular language or describe themselves in certain ways.

Because of these controversies, there is considerable checking of census outcomes. One way in which this is done is by conducting sample surveys to test the data; another is by looking at longitudinal information such as mortality studies and general population movement estimates. But, also because of these controversies, there may be data which has to be checked against other information. In countries with porous borders, where there has been conflict, where the institution collecting population data is suspect, or where the collection of revised household data might result in the loss of benefits provided by the state, people may choose not to make themselves known.

While a census is normally done on a universal basis, countries with large informal urban settlements may find it difficult to manage. In some situations, aerial photography and sample data on the number of people per dwelling may be used to obtain best estimates.

Census Data Used with Caution

Educators will want to treat census date with some caution; and may want to use it in conjunction with data collected during voter registration or with additional information obtained from those working in a particular area. Despite this caution, election authorities without census information are at a distinct disadvantage. In the case of new country or administrative boundaries, for instance, or because a census has not been conducted for many years, election authorities are likely to underplan or overplan. The latter choice, while expensive, may be preferable.

Basic Information Needed

Educators will want to be able to divide the country into electoral districts and have available for each district the following basic information:

• total number of people
• number of men and women
• number of people of voting age
• number of people between 18 and 25, 26 and 40, and above 65
• types of dwellings in which these people live
• income distribution
• primary language used in the household

Having information that identifies, even in very gross terms, the socioeconomic status of people, whether by the type of dwelling or their household income, provides some indication of a range of other likely living patterns. Knowing which people are young, and possibly voting for the first time. and which are old and therefore require some special attention will also be useful. In all of these cases, educators will want to apply other information they have at their disposal to interpret the demographic data.

Interpreting Data

Interpreting the profile of people from their age or income requires an understanding of the culture of the country. Do people go to work at a very young age? What is the average life span? How healthy are people? At what age do people tend to have children? What ranges of income are considered poor or affluent, and how is that expressed in people's life styles and life choices?

Sources of Information

Educators can attempt to obtain demographic information by starting with national census bureaus or the relevant government departments, and then searching for similar information collated internationally through the World Bank, World Health Organisation, or the United Nations and its related bodies. If they are fortunate, this information will be available on computer, and if they are extremely fortunate, they will have access to up-to-date GIS. However the information is available, it will be time-bound and will have to be corrected according to the best possible estimates.

The Role of Election Authorities

Because an election authority has such an urgent need for good demographic information, it will want to discuss with state agencies and offices ways in which existing information can be improved. This is a general function rather than one specific to elections. But obtaining the most timely and accurate data on the population will help with a whole host of election plans ranging from the design of the voter education programme to determining the number of eligible voters. The latter will influence the number of voting areas, the number of ballots to be printed, the amount of election supplies required, and the number of poll workers to be appointed, etc. As such, educators will want access to population data and suggest certain additional information of a socioeconomic and attitudinal nature that might be collected.

Cultural and Religious Norms

Civic and voter education should be culturally sensitive. The manner in which the education programme approaches people, the language/s used, the methods adopted, the communication means employed, and the styles of the educators all have to take into account the constituency's cultural and religious predilections.

These predilections can be a barrier, a trap, or a window. Whichever they are, educators will always have a dialectic relationship with them. Education is, by its very nature, subversive of the status quo. It offers insights into new vistas, and these may encourage individuals and groups of individuals to reflect critically on the norms that they take for granted. Given that voter education programmes are driven not only by the needs of the electorate but also by the demands of the state, educators will want to be cautious in their interactions with people's culture and religion.

There is no requirement to call these norms into question if they are in conflict with the election message. And yet, civic and voter education will inevitably expose practices that do not conform with increasingly universal values. This is a dilemma with which educators will have to contend. The horns of this dilemma are most stark in countries that do not have a democratic system of government. Even in democratic countries, however, it may arise within minority groups.

The Barrier

Culture and religion may represent a barrier to the educator because they create societies that have their own symbols and language. These societies are not always closed, but when they do recognise outsiders they may be suspicious of them.

They may have established opinions and traditions about the role and accessibility of education, and about what democracy is and whether it is acceptable. In turn, different cultures may have strong opinions about who can or cannot educate men, women, or even children. They may have concepts of leadership and authority that are at odds with the general equality proposed as the bedrock of representative democracy.

At the very least, there may be unspoken subtleties about educational methodology. Teaching and learning styles may have been set by their own cultural and religious practices, so that innovations such as small group work, interactive teaching methods, exercizes in critical thinking, the use of evalutive questionnaires, and the use of audio-visual aids may result in scepticism, or affable but reluctant tolerance.

The Trap

Of course, these barriers may easily turn into traps that can snare educators. Culture and religion can be used to ensure that ordinary people who may well want good education about the election or their rights as citizens are denied access to this education. In these situations, any lack of cultural or religious sensitivity will not be treated with tolerance but used as an excuse to undermine the educational programme. For this reason, educators will want to weigh these sensitivities carefully in order that they do not become stumbling blocks.

The Window

Most propitious, of course, is when educators understand the context in which they are going to work, or have crafted their programme in such a way that they have created a team that understands this context. Then they are provided with a rich source of idioms, analogies, traditions and anecdotes that can provide learners with new ways of understanding their own reality and the election or civic lessons are being conveyed.

To give just one example, it might be useful to consider those South African educators who had to find a way to help people understand the secret nature of the vote. In discussions with women from traditional societies, they found that pregnancy provided an allegorical insight. Generally, the gender of a baby is not known prior to birth. But they also discovered that this allegory could not be successfully used in the education programme because of a taboo of talking publicly about pregnancy. As a result, another image was chosen for discussion - that of the seed planted by the farmer. No one knows what gender the seed is until it grows. The illustrations that were used to reinforce the verbal discussions did, however, feature a pregnant women. She votes, but her condition is not discussed. It is noted, however, especially by women, and the concept of the secret vote is communicated - in secret.

Gender

The Afrobarometer, a large scale survey into attitudes towards democracy and governance in 15 African countries, analyses its data against a range of demographic factors – language, geography, age, socio-economic status, and so on. Gender is amongst these. Yet there is consistently very little statistical significance in this analysis – men and women in Africa hold similar values and perceptions, and behave or are inclined to behave in similar ways when confronted with particular situations. By far the greatest differences are found in geography, and therefore history and culture.

Educators trying to understand the context within which they are going to work are not then looking at women as a separate class of people. What they are trying to understand is how to reach women given the particular places to which they are restricted, and considerations of how best to assist women in exercizing their own individual and corporate rights and responsibilities in ways which are empowering and safe.

Considerations of Literacy and Schooling for Voter Education

Educators will want to assess carefully what can be learned about the literacy and schooling levels of their voters, in as much detail as possible, and will want to look for national or regional information that will help them to tailor their planning to reach voters that are functionally illiterate.

Literacy

Voter educators cannot presume literacy. Even industrialized and sophisticated societies with universal schooling generally have a percentage of people who are illiterate or semiliterate. In the southern hemisphere, illiteracy levels, which are often reported inaccurately, vary from 10 percent of the population to above 70 percent. These statistics obscure the fact that segments of the society may have different literacy levels.

In Peru "seventy-one percent of women are illiterate - nearly nine times as many as the proportion of men." [1] And this pattern is repeated through most developing countries. This discrimination against women provides the most obvious example of patterns of illiteracy that educators will want to discover. Within the borders of a country, there will be pockets where literacy levels are lower than others, for example in rural or remote areas. Within these pockets, there will also be variations where certain groups of people, such as women or the aged, have even higher levels of illiteracy.

Creating educational programmes that cater to the literate will obviously exclude the illiterate. Creating programmes that include the illiterate need not exclude the literate. And creating programmes in which there is an intentional emphasis on cooperative and oral learning will help ensure that both literate and illiterate people have an opportunity to learn.

Countries with high literacy levels have certain advantages. They can rely on the printed word more readily. But even in these countries, the traditionally disenfranchised - often the young, women, the poor - may not have very high levels of literacy. Educators will need to understand just how much people are willing to read and how much they can comprehend.

Schooling

Apart from literacy levels, educators may need to account for levels of schooling. There is obviously an overlap here. Many people learn to read at school. And those who do not learn to read often have been unable to attend or stay in school for very long.

Levels or years of schooling can also reveal to educators other things about likely levels of literacy. Schooling affects ways in which people are likely to understand other forms of education. It determines, for good or ill, how people value learning and which methods they are most likely to associate with educational programmes.

At the same time, voter education can be conducted independently, removed from the school room, and therefore free itself from the particular patterns of discipline, knowledge construction and dissemination, and competition for information and success associated with formal education.

Voter educators work at an advantage in societies that value education, particularly life-long learning. They benefit in cultures where schooling has encouraged democratic decision making and personal autonomy. They can also build on those schooling systems in which voter or civic education programmes have been incorporated into the formal or informal curriculum.

Understanding the patterns established by schooling systems in a country, therefore, will provide insight into the motivations and skills of the voting population. The recent upsurge in civic education at the school level, even in some long standing democracies, suggests that schooling in both traditional and even innovative or modern settings may not sufficiently prepare citizens for democracy in the absence of curricula specifically designed for this purpose. So educators of adults may not want to take it for granted that a literate and schooled society understands the complexities of modern democracies, even if they can assume that they will be able to read the pamphlets that explain how to register, and when and where to vote. Certainly, they may not assume that schooling inculcates the motivation and skills for civic participation (for more on this see Relationship Between General and Civic Education).

Notes:

[1] M. Kidron & R. Segal, The State of the World Atlas (Middlesex: Penguin, 1995).