Voter registration establishes the eligibility of individuals to cast their ballot on election day. As a general rule, eligibility to vote is a precondition for the registration of voters.

Voter registration is a technically complex and often sensitive process. Voters with multiple registrations, electoral registers which contain the names of deceased or non-existent people, rejected voter registration, inaccurate assignment of a voter to the proper polling station and other factors have the potential to influence electoral outcomes. As a consequence, all political actors competing in elections are likely to be highly concerned with the quality of voter registration. Manipulation of voter registration, or perceptions that this has occurred, may trigger or contribute to triggering election-related violence. 

Empirical cases:

• Ghana presidential and legislative elections 2008. During the voter registration period there were major irregularities that resulted in violence^[1]. In northern Ghana, some supporters of the two main political parties, the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), vandalized several voter registration centres. Furthermore, a journalist covering the process was attacked while reporting on under-age voter registration. (Domestic observers highlighted illegal registration of minors as an issue of significant concern.)^[2] 
  
  Interrelated factors: poor voter information campaign (internal); inadequate funding, financing and budgeting (internal); provocative use of media by political parties (internal).[3]