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Voter Registration Voter Registration Index Voter Registration Overview Definitions Context Qualifications and Identification Identification for Registration Purposes Voter's Proof of Identification Guiding Principles Administration Considerations Cost Considerations Democratic/Representational Considerations Social and Political Context Historical Review Additional Resources General Issues Alternative Methods: Pros and Cons Periodic List Advantages Disadvantages Continuous Register Advantages Disadvantages Civil Registry Advantages Disadvantages Computerization Registration Criteria and Proof of Registration Characteristics of Eligible Voters Encouraging Registration Proof of Registration The Voter Identification Card: Advantages and Disadvantages Voluntary versus Mandatory Registration Self-initiated versus State-Initiated Registration Resident versus Non-resident Voters Political Parties and Interest Groups Periodic List of Voters: A Preview Introduction Options Available for Producing a Periodic List Resident versus Non-resident Voters Planning Legal and Administrative Framework Logistics Registration Data Collection Procurement Operational Infrastructure Voter Education Staff Selection and Training Implementation Plan of Action Compiling Registration Data Storing Registration Data Production of Preliminary Voters List Method of Production Promotion Strategies Gathering Changes to Preliminary List Production of Final Voters List Distribution of Final Voters List Audit Trail Maintenance Importance of Process of Audit Approaches to Storing and Maintaining Records Closing Date for Registration List Revisions for Early Voters Objection Hearings Election Day Registration Additions and Revisions Cost Implications Continuous Register of Voters: A Preview Introduction and Definitions Resident versus Non-resident Voters Planning for Initial Registration Logistical Planning for Initial Registration Registration Information Collection Procurement Operational Infrastructure Voter Education Registration Worker Selection and Training Implementation of Initial Registration Production of Initial Voters List Voter Roll Maintenance Use of Non-Voting Purges From the Voters List Production of Definitive Voters List Audit Trail Maintenance Importance of Audit Process Approaches to Storing and Maintaining Records Closing Date for Registration List Revisions for Early Voters Objection Hearings Election Day Registration Additions and Revisions Cost of Producing Continuous Register of Voters Using Civil Registry to Produce Voters List: A Preview Introduction and Definitions Gathering Election Information Planning for Initial Data Collection Logistical Planning Information Collection Procurement Operational Infrastructure Voter and Civic Education Staff Selection and Training Implementation of Data Collection Production of Preliminary Voters List Changes to the Civil Registry Civil Registry as a Voters List Audit Trail Maintenance Continuous Character of the Civil Registry Review of Civil Registration Information Objection Hearings Election Period Updates Sample Materials Bosnia - Registration Timelines Guyana - List of Items and Supplies for Divisional Registers Ethiopia - Election Timetable Polling Station Checklist Joe Baxter, Techniques of Effective Election Management Addis Ababa - Election Calendar South Africa - Voter Registration Form Ethiopia - Voter ID Card El Salvador - Voter Registration Form and ID Card Guyana - Voter Registration Form Bosnia - Voter Registration Form Albania - Voter Registration Form Canada - Voter Registration Form for Citizens Residing Outside Canada Dominican Republic - Voter Registration Form Venezuela - Voter ID Card Tennessee, USA - Voter ID Card Uruguay - Voter ID Card Uganda - Voter ID Card Nicaragua - Voter ID Card South Africa - Local Government Elections Regulations Budapest, Hungary - Local Government Election Registration Elections Canada - Enumeration Supervisor's Manual Elections Canada - Enumerator's Manual Electoral Commission of Ghana - Voter Registration Official's Manual South Africa - Election Administration Manual IFES - A Guide to Transparency in Election Administration Dominican Republic - Work and Procedural Plan for the Identification and Electoral Cards Project Australian Electoral Commission - Enrolment Fact Sheet Elections Canada - Register to Vote Mozambique - Election Budget Electoral Commission of Ghana - Voter Registration ID Card Program Budget Electoral Commission of Ghana - Voters Register Exhibition Budget Electoral Commission of Ghana - Election Period Budget Senegal - Election Budget, 1993 Guyana - Election Budget, 1994 Togo - Election Budget Australian Electoral Commission - Electoral Roll Review Manual. Recruitment and Training Australian Electoral Commission - Electoral Roll Review Manual, Divisional Activities Australian Electoral Commission - Electoral Roll Review Officer's manual South Africa - Trainer's Manual for Voter Registration Workshop Antigua and Barbuda Australia Barbados Belize Canada The Gambia Ghana Guyana Malasia Malawi St. Vincent and The Grenadines Tanzania Trinidad and Tobago Uganda Country Case Studies OSCE Election Assessment Team - Bosnia Elections Canada - The Register of Electors Project: A Report on Research and Feasibility Joe Baxter, Voter Registration in Ghana Juan Manuel Herrero Alvarez, Mexico: The Electoral Register UNDP - Assistance to the Electoral Process in Mozambique New Zealand Electoral Commission - Guide to Electoral Enrolment Senegal - Analysis of Electoral Code Swedish Taxation Office - The Population Register Harry Neufeld, A Permanent Register of Voters for Uganda Voter Registration End Notes Voter Registration Bibliography

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Overview

Registration as a Prerequisite to Free and Fair Elections

The right of all adult citizens to participate in the affairs of their government is one of the cornerstones of democracy. Perhaps the most fundamental form of participation is the right to vote in free and fair elections. The ability to exercise the democratic right to vote is premised on the existence of a comprehensive and inclusive electoral register (or voters list), which is rigorously maintained to ensure, as much as possible, that each eligible citizen is registered to vote once and only once. The delicate balance implicit in preparing election registers has been characterized succinctly by the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission of Queensland, Australia:

Electoral rolls are a fundamental component of any voting system. Rolls constitute the official list of electors and are prima facie evidence of electors' right to vote. Enrolment procedures therefore need to strike the right balance between the need to be rigorous to ensure integrity of the rolls, and the need for flexibility to ensure that peoples' rights to enroll and vote are protected.¹

High Cost of Voter Registration

While voter registration is a central component of election administration, it is also one of the more costly. The process of registering voters and producing voters lists often accounts for more than fifty percent of the overall cost for administering elections.² Various factors affect these costs, of course, including the type of system used to register voters, the administrative capabilities of the election authority, and the social, economic, and demographic characteristics of the country.

Voter Registration: General Principles

Two important principles underlie effective voter registration. The first is that the system chosen for voter registration should facilitate the inclusion of all eligible voters in the electoral register, or voters list. Democratic governance requires the existence of free and fair elections conducted amongst a broadly enfranchised electorate. In order to realize this precept, then, all (or substantially all) eligible electors should be included in the voters list. Their inclusion affirms their right to vote in the election. The second key principle of voter registration is the obvious corollary of the first, namely, that it should prevent the exclusion of eligible citizens from the voters list.

Legal and Administrative Exclusion

There are two ways in which voters may be excluded from a voters list--either through legal exclusion or administrative exclusion. During the modern reincarnation of representative democracies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were many grounds on which people were legally excluded from registering and voting, including such conditions as property ownership, wealth, literacy, race, gender and 'moral fitness'.³ Over the years, all of these legal exclusions diminished in democratic practice, and today most are no longer viewed as legitimate. Legal exclusions that persist today in many states, however, include age (normally eighteen years and older, although somewhat higher in some cases), citizenship, residency, conviction for criminal offence and mental incompetence.⁴ Such exclusions are usually mandated by political leaders in constitutional or electoral law rather than by administrative officials.

Administrative exclusion occurs when people who are ostensibly eligible to vote are not entitled to vote because they have been left off the voters list. They may be excluded, for example, simply by their own choice or personal habits. A potential voter may have little or no interest in politics or the election. A change of address or even a voter's name may result in error or lack of registration. Exclusion may also occur due to limitations of the system of voter registration, such as a poorly publicized deadline for completing the registration process. In keeping with the objective to prevent, or at least minimize, the exclusion of eligible voters, however, the registration system should maintain a priority to register all eligible voters. Although in practice it will not be possible to register all eligible voters, adhering to this goal will encourage the identification of very clear performance criteria (see Identification for Registration Purposes) against which success in achieving universal registration can be measured.

The Complexity of Voter Registration

Notwithstanding the overarching importance of voter registration to the democratic electoral process, electoral administrators often face myriad decisions in responding to parochial issues of their country, state or region:

Should a voters list be created de novo at each election, or is it better to maintain an ongoing, continuous list?
How do eligible voters identify themselves as such at the polling station -- do they use a voter identity card, or some other means?
If a voter identity card is used, what information must be on the card?
Should registration be compulsory or voluntary?
If registration is voluntary should it be at the initiative of the citizen or the state?
What impact do local conditions, such as literacy rates, urbanization, population mobility, relative affluence, and history with democracy have on the type of voter registration system that is most feasible?
What role does computerization play in the voter registration process -- what aspects of voter registration are best handled by computerization?

The answers to these and similar questions will play an important role in determining the kind of voter registration system that best responds to the principles of facilitating inclusion and minimizing exclusion in a particular political context.

Alternative Methods of Voter Registration

Simply raising these questions provides some indication of the diverse ways in which democracy generally, and voter registration in particular, has been implemented across the diverse economies and cultures in which the democratic impulse has found root. The two questions that give substance to the principles of democratic election administration are:

Which alternative is most responsive to the variety of local conditions in which it must exist?
Which alternative is realistic and affordable in the context of the financial and administrative environment in which it must be developed and sustained?

There are three basic options available for the development and maintenance of a voters list:

the periodic list
the continuous register, or list
the civil registry

Choosing to design a voter registration system on the basis of one of these options, or some combination of them, is a primary concern for the election authority.

This section on voter registration compares and contrasts the major alternatives for the various elements of voter registration. On the one hand, it suggests a broad array of choices over the general parameters of voter registration. But in many instances, a more narrow range of practical alternatives is outlined to accommodate local traditions and other unique conditions. Also highlighted are a number of cases in which election administrations have been especially successful in making decisions that respond positively to the local environment.

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