Given the recent decline in turnout observed in most democracies, there has been renewed interest in the issue of voter education. Perhaps some citizens do not vote simply because they do not know the basic facts about how, where, and when to register and vote. Or perhaps some are baffled by the apparent complexity of political institutions and do not see the utility of voting, and would need civic education programs to inform them about how Parliament, the government, and parties function.
The first issue concerns basic information about what it takes to register and vote, how/when/where people can cast (or perhaps mail) their ballot. It would seem normal for electoral management bodies to conduct information campaigns to improve citizens’ knowledge and understanding of how one gets registered and then votes. Indeed, an overwhelming majority of these organizations (84%) do wage such campaigns. Interestingly, it is in Africa, in Asia, and more generally in the poorest countries that these information campaigns are the most frequently conducted by EMBs. It is only in the more developed countries that the need for providing such information may not be obvious, and even in these countries the recent turnout decline has brought home the message that one should not assume that everybody perfectly understands how one votes.
A related question is whether such information campaigns should be conducted at the time of the election or continuously. The dominant pattern is to do the former. Only 28% of the electoral management bodies appear to run a permanent campaign to inform citizens. Interestingly, permanent campaigns are most frequent in the Americas and particularly rare in the Middle East, the Pacific, and Europe.
The other approach, of course, is to ensure that citizens understand not only the mechanics of registering and voting, but more generally the functioning of political institutions and political life. This is the goal of national civic education campaigns. Such programs seem to prevail in 69% of the countries. Perhaps not surprisingly it is in Europe and generally in wealthier countries that civics education programs appear to be less popular. As in the case of voter information programs, it appears that the need to educate people about politics is most obvious in poorest areas of the world. It is also interesting to note that civic education or information programs are neither more nor less popular in more democratic countries.
The dominant pattern is thus to run campaigns to provide citizens with basic information about elections and the political system:
-
This is particularly so in poorer countries where the need for such information is most obvious.
-
At the same time, however, these information campaigns may not be very intense, as suggested by the fact that they are often confined to the election period.
| VOTER EDUCATION |
Degree of democracy |
Former French colony |
Former British colony |
Former Spanish colony |
Economic development |
EMB in charge of voter education campaigns
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
less likely in wealthier countries
|
Voter education campaigns conducted at the time of the election only
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
National civic education campaign
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
less likely in wealthier countries
|
