In many electoral systems, voters must register before they can cast a ballot. Unless civil data or an actual civil registry is used as the basis for the State to compile the voters list, registration is the joint responsibility of each voter and the electoral administration or another agency or agencies.
The responsibility agency provides the means for registration, but voters often must take some initiative to register and, if possible, provide proof of their eligibility. (In the U.K., eligible voters are obliged to register to vote, although – unlike in certain other countries, such as Australia – they are not as such obliged to cast a vote.)
To some extent, integrity problems in voter registration occur in almost all electoral systems, not only in emerging democracies. Integrity in voter registration is critical to free and fair elections. It is facilitated by a well-designed process, monitored by political parties and civil society and including enforcement measures.
To ensure integrity in voter registration, the electoral management body must develop a registration system that:
Defining Eligibility Requirements
The right to vote is one of the foundations of a democratic system of government. However, it is usually considered a privilege of citizenship and, as a result, every country has set eligibility requirements for voting. The requirements generally include citizenship (especially in national elections), a minimum age (widely established as 18 years) and sometimes a specific residence requirement. Voters residing abroad during elections are often placed in a separate category, so that they can cast their votes in special ways (such as advance voting at specified locations) or even (such as in Croatia) vote in a separate constituency.
Sometimes certain citizens lose their right to vote—for example, those who have been adjudicated incompetent by a court; or criminals convicted of a serious offense (such as a felony). It is considered best practice for withdrawal of a citizen’s right to vote following a criminal conviction to be subject to a special determination by the court during the sentencing process, and that such withdrawal terminate automatically at a certain time. In Europe and Eurasia, for example, the European Court of Human Rights established under the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe has determined that a prisoner cannot be denied the right to vote unless such a determination has validly been made.[1] As another example, in the United States serious issues have arisen in recent elections regarding non-restoration of the rights of convicts who have completed their terms of imprisonment and should no longer be subject to restriction of their civil rights.
Electoral integrity may be at risk if certain groups of citizens are prevented from registering by the addition of discriminatory eligibility conditions based on race, language or other social characteristics. The legal framework must clearly define the eligibility requirements to safeguard fair and equal treatment for all citizens.
Ensuring that Eligible Citizens Can Register
Eligible citizens can vote only if they have been registered. Ensuring that every citizen who wishes or is eligible to register is able to do so is another integrity challenge. In developing countries registration presents logistical problems, and in any system there would be problems if eligible citizens try to register but cannot because of limited access or administrative obstacles or error.
There are two fundamentally different voter registration systems. Some systems use civil registry data as the basis for the voters list, with eligible persons being registered by the State, as a ministerial responsibility. For example, Denmark uses its computerized national civil registry as the basis for producing a computerized voters list. Ireland uses a list of voters prepared annually by the county councils and county borough corporations. Using civil registry data can reduce problems arising from citizens’ varying ability to register and helps ensure that every eligible citizen is registered to vote.
Other systems place the responsibility for registration on citizens themselves. They register in either a permanent registry (requiring one-time enrolment) or a periodic registry (requiring re-enrolment at fixed intervals). A permanent registry is less burdensome for voters but must be regularly updated to change the registration status of voters who have moved residence or whose status has changed (e.g., as a result of death or incapacity). With new technology, Canada has found that keeping a permanent computerized list is less expensive, time-consuming and labour-intensive than the previous system of registering voters for each federal election.
Access to registration sites may be a problem for voters. To reduce the danger of fraudulent registration, some countries require voters to register in person. This requirement may prove disproportionately hard for residents of rural or remote areas, or persons with limited mobility.
On the other hand, certain countries, such as the U.K., and in many jurisdictions in the U.S., permit materials pertaining to national elections to be delivered, collected and submitted by third-party organizations, sometimes including political parties themselves. In the U.K., such opportunities for fraud has sometimes led to corrective legislation;[2] and in the U.S. issues have often been raised concerning the practices of organizations on both sides of the partisan divide involved in voter registration drives. Various countries have adopted special rules making voter registration easier. Some provisions allow persons with a physical disability to register by proxy. In New Zealand, for example, persons who have a physical disability or are sick can ask someone else to fill out, date and sign the voter registration application. The person providing this assistance must be a registered voter and be given power of attorney.[3]
To make it easier for larger numbers of voters to register, some countries allow registration by mail and on-line. These methods potentially involve their own integrity problems.
There is usually a fixed deadline for registration before election day; this helps electoral administrators to determine the numbers of ballots needed and plan election logistics. Such a deadline may also give rise to integrity issues, however. Voters with access problems may find it difficult to register on time.
Some countries, such as Canada, have addressed this issue by allowing voters to register on election day. Others widely publicize the registration deadline to make citizens aware of it. Certain countries, like Romania, permit voters’ names to be added to a “supplemental list” of voters at the polling station. Other countries, such as Croatia and other States that emerged from the Former Yugoslavia, permit citizens to seek registration certificates from the primary courts on election day. And, in the U.S., Federal legislation provides that voters who are not registered (or whose registration is challenged) may submit “tendered ballots” on election day, which are counted subsequently if the voters’ eligibility to vote can be confirmed.
All these measures help allow for the registration of as many eligible voters as possible. For voters lists to be accurate and reliable, however, additional safeguards are needed to prevent fraud and guarantee that only eligible voters are registered.
The registration process produces voter lists that customarily are made available for public inspection, either on an ongoing basis or prior to an election. The publication of verifiable voter lists is a measure that helps maintain voter confidence in the integrity of the system. However, making private information public can raise privacy issues. In the U.K., the data included in publicly-available voter lists is greatly limited in order to prevent misuse of the lists.
