In an effort to make the electoral process more accessible and facilitate voter registration, an increasing number of countries—including Germany, Australia, Britain, Canada and many jurisdictions in the United States—permit mail-in voter registration. Some countries (Canada, Denmark, Australia, Britain) are looking into using new technology to provide on-line registration opportunities; in New Zealand electors were able to register on-line for the 2005 election.[1]

These methods can help increase the registration rate, but raise concern that an ineligible person might register or someone might register more than once, intentionally or by mistake. The risk of fraud is higher since it is more difficult to authenticate the identity of the person registering. Registration by mail or on-line requires a verification system to ensure that the person seeking to register is eligible. To prevent duplicate registrations, new names must be verified before they are added to the voters list. Regular review of voter lists by internal checks and cross-checking with other sources of information helps to minimize the possibilities of error or fraud.