An accurate voter list is fundamental to electoral integrity because it ensures that all those who are eligible to vote are able to vote and that no individual votes more than once. There is a wide variety of voter registration systems. Voter registers are usually constructed either actively or passively and on a continuous or periodic basis.[1]

In active systems, it is the responsibility of the voter to complete the registration process. Voters are required to visit, in person, a place of registration in order to register or, during a subsequent exhibition period, to notify changes in name or address. Sometimes, a new register is created for each election and people have to register each time, often during specific registration ‘windows’ leading up to an election (periodic registration). In other countries, the register is continuously updated and voters may only need to register once and then update details as they change. Another variation on the active methodology is where registration teams may go door-to-door to conduct an enumeration in order to register people. In some countries, people can check and change their details on the Internet or by post.[2]

In passive systems, the EMB may create a voter register by extracting information from an existing list such as a civil registry, citizenship, national ID card database or residency lists. Other common sources of information for integrated voter registries include tax lists, immigration records, national defense rosters, driver’s license agencies, vital statistics databases, subnational electoral lists (region, state, provincial, territory level) and information provided directly by voters. In these cases, voters usually do not need to take any action in order to be on the voter register. In fact, they may only need to take action if they do not want to be on the register for any reason, by contacting the EMB directly or opting out in a designated check-box on related government forms. Where this method is used, a gender analysis of the way in which the citizenship or residency list is created can help ensure that women are not being disenfranchised at that point.[3]

As long as voter registers are transparent, accurate and inclusive, all different sorts of voter registration systems can function effectively. Any type of system will have advantages and disadvantages from a gender perspective and different implications on women’s participation. “[W]omen are more likely to be registered under State-initiated systems, in which the Government automatically registers all eligible citizens to vote, provided the State has the skills and resources to make such a system work effectively. In systems in which individual voters must register themselves, election management bodies should ensure that the need to register is well-publicized, that voter registration stations are easily accessible, and that procedures are quick and simple. Special attention should be devoted to registering displaced persons, most of whom are women.”[4] 

As described below, there are three mainstream requirements of the registration process that may adversely affect women’s registration: proof of identity, photography identification and in-person registration.[5]

1. Proof of identity  

When identity documents such as a citizenship certificate or passport are needed in order to register, women may have difficulties because they are often less likely to have the necessary identification papers or these papers may be held by a husband or father.[6]

Example: In Nepal, in early 2013, many women could not register to vote, as they did not hold necessary citizenship certificates. A directive was issued by the Election Commission of Nepal allowing women to register with a local-level official as an additional method of verification.[7] 

Example: In Egypt, UN Women and the Ministry of State for Administrative Development (MSAD), in collaboration with other partners, started in 2011 the Women’s Citizenship Initiative project. The “Your ID, Your Rights” campaign aimed to ensure women’s basic citizenship rights during the democratic transition in Egypt by issuing national ID cards for two million women living in rural or remote areas.[8] 

Example: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), UNDP and civil society organizations implemented, since October 2017, the nationwide initiative “Women’s National Identity Card (NIC) and Voter Registration Campaign”, to bridge the gap between men and women voters. Since the beginning of the campaign 4.3 million women obtained their NICs, in order to be able to vote.[9] 

2)      Photography identification

Including a photo on the voter card or requiring voters to show a form of photo identification is common in new democracies and this measure is often introduced to avoid fraudulent voting on behalf of other person. However, photography identification requirements might restrict the participation of specific groups of women voters.[10] 

For cultures where women wear the veil, the inclusion of a photo on the ID card can be a barrier to women’s participation in the election. If these issues are not addressed, then women may choose not to register because they are not comfortable with having a photo ID. One concern that may arise is the necessity of removing the veil in order to have the photo taken and again when identity is checked at the voting center. Where the use of photos for identification has already been adopted, there are approaches to implementation that may make it easier for women who wear the veil to participate, such as using women-only registration teams.[11]

Example: In Afghanistan, women are not required to have their photo on their voter registration cards. Instead, they may choose to have a fingerprint on their voter ID cards instead of a photo, although the fingerprint serves no visual identification purpose.[12]

Example: Australia and Great Britain do not require voters to display photo identification – or, consequently, reveal their face – when casting the ballot. While registering voters need to state the identification number displayed on their IDs (which normally contains a photo), there is no requirement to actually show the registration clerk the ID card. Tendered or provisional ballots may be used to address concerns of fraud in these cases.[13]

3) Registering in person 

Access to the registration process may be a widespread concern when considering women’s participation. Given that the most common method of registration is for voters to go to a registration office, the location of the office and the times at which it is open need to be considered in terms of easy access for all women. Also, in some contexts where individuals feel that the public act of voter registration puts them at personal risk because of the information required, some countries permit anonymous or confidential voter registration. This refers to the practice of placing certain individuals on the voters list in such a way that their names or other characteristics (e.g., addresses) do not appear in any published or circulated version of the voters list.[14]

Example: In Bosnia and Herzegovina, citizens with ID cards do not need to take action to register on the Central Voter Register. Active registration is only required for out-of-country voters.[15]

Example: In New Zealand, an application to be placed on the unpublished roll requires the following kinds of supporting documentation: a) Copy of protection order for domestic violence; b) copy of restraining order in force; c) 
Statutory declaration from police on the danger; and d) supportive letter from barrister, employer or justice of the peace.[16]

Example: In Canada, women temporarily residing in a women’s shelter may register to vote by special ballot without disclosing the address of the shelter. [17]

In addition to ensuring that the voter registration process does not affect women negatively, EMBs around the world have put in practice gender-targeted interventions for voter registration to facilitate women’s participation. These strategies may include women-only registration teams, mobile registration and awareness-raising campaigns for voters.[18]

•  Women-only registration teams                                                                                                      

In countries where the cultural norm is that women do not mix with men who are not family, registration of women should be conducted by women-only registration teams to maximize their participation. In a survey conducted by UNDP in 2011-2012, analyzing practices in 35 EMBs, only Afghanistan and Mozambique said that they had provided women-only registration teams, while only Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan provided separate queuing arrangements for men and women at registration stations or separate arrangements to reduce violence and/or facilitate women’s registration and safety.[19] 

Example: In Afghanistan, women are registered by teams of women staff. However, the EMB faced challenges in recruiting them due to the low number of literate women available for the task, which resulted from previous decades of girls not being sent to school.[20]

•  Mobile registration

Where mobile registration is made available, it is vital that voters are provided with information on the timetable and location of the registration in their area. In UNDP’s 2012 survey on EMBs, 34 percent of surveyed countries said that they had provided mobile registration stations in rural areas to combat distance. These stations are usually provided in regions and constituencies that are geographically vast and remote, where citizens need to travel long distances. Registration by mail is available in some countries and, although less frequent, Internet registration is possible in others.[21]

• Providing voters with information on how to register

Voters need information about how to register, where to register and when the registration center is open. Women may also need encouragement to register, in particular where cultural norms imply that elections are a male domain, where there is illiteracy or widespread political apathy. In the EMB survey, 63 percent of surveyed countries said that they had provided awareness-raising activities with NGOs or national women’s organizations to encourage women to register.[22]

Example: In Sudan, UNDP administered over US$1.2 million worth of small grants to 41 CSOs in 2009. The grantees were trained on voter education methodology for the registration process, including outreach to women.[23] 

Example: In South Sudan, UN Women, in partnership with the UNMIS Elections Team Gender Unit, supported training of trainers in all 79 counties of South Sudan around the registration process. “You must register” posters and a civic education guide were widely distributed.[24]

For more information on this topic, please see the ACE Project section on “Women and Voter Registration.”

Voter registration procedures can also restrict in practice the participation of transgender voters, considering that their gender identity does not always match the one in their official identity documents. “Since identity documents are a pre-requisite to effective enjoyment of many human rights, including electoral rights, transgender persons who are unable to obtain identity documentation that reflects their preferred gender are de facto disfranchised.”[25] Some EMBs around the world have put in practice specific measures to allow transgender voters to register according to the gender identity and/or social name of their preference, with the purpose of avoiding misgendering and misnaming during Election Day. These measures should be analyzed taking into account the larger framework of national legislation and policies on gender identity.

Example: In Brazil, the Superior Electoral Tribunal (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral) has made efforts to promote the effective participation of transgender people in the electoral process. In view of the 2018 elections, the Tribunal decided to allow transgender voters to register with the gender identity and social name of their preference, as recognized in resolution TSE 23.562/2018, modifying resolution TSE 21.538/2003. The Tribunal established a one-month period, from 3 April to 9 May, for transgender voters to register their social names and to update their gender identity in the voters’ list, so that their voter cards can be printed accordingly. These measures were adopted to avoid misgendering and misnaming transgender voters in polling stations, making sure that they are treated with dignity during Election Day.[26] In words of the Superior Electoral Tribunal’s President, Luiz Fux, “In light of the constitutional principles, and according to the interpretation that the Supreme Federal Court gave to these norms, it is inadmissible that the exercise of citizenship remains subject to any sort of preconception.”[27]

Example: During the 2017 Ecuadorian presidential election, transgender citizens could vote for the first time in consonance with their gender identity. Following the advocacy efforts of LGBTI groups, the Organic Law on Identity Management and Civil Data in Ecuador was adopted in 2016, allowing transgender citizens to modify their name (Article 78) and gender marker (Article 94) in the civil registry.[28] These modifications were later reflected in new ID cards that were issued for transgender citizens, as well as in the voters’ list. Ahead of the 2017 presidential elections, 271 Ecuadorian citizens changed their gender marker in the civil registry, were provided with new ID cards and were included in the voters’ list, of which 227 casted their vote during the Election Day.[29]

Ecuador has gender-segregated polling stations and in the past transgender and intersex voters were forced to line up according to their sex assigned at birth and not their current gender identity. This made many of them feel uncomfortable and suffer discrimination from other voters, polling staff and police officers. The 2016 legal developments contributed to put an end to this situation, allowing all citizens to vote according to their gender identity and their chosen names.[30]

Example: In Nepal, the 2007 Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in the case Pant vs. Nepal recognized full fundamental rights for gender and sexual minorities and established the category of “third gender”, in addition to “male” and “female”. The decision “enshrines the idea that gender recognition should be based on self-identification”, in line with the Yogyakarta Principles.[31]

Since 2010, in line with the court’s decision, the Election Commission of Nepal allowed voter registration under the third gender category, basing the whole registration process on self-identification, without requiring the registered gender to coincide with other identity documents.[32] This opened the door to the effective participation of transgender and intersex voters in the electoral process.

Example: In a 2011 landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of Pakistan instructed the Election Commission to register transgender citizens as voters and requested the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to issue national identity cards for those who had not been registered yet. This enrollment process in the civil registry was based on self-identification, under five gender categories: male, female, male transgender/eunuch, female transgender/eunuch and khasa-e-mushkil/transgender/ third gender.

The Election Commission of Pakistan conducts the voter registration process based on self-identification, but voters can only choose three different gender identity options: male, female and transgender. Since polling stations are segregated for men and women in Pakistan, transgender voters need to express a preference for male or female gender identity. This is automatically applied considering NADRA’s civil registry data, so that citizens under the categories female and female transgender/eunuch vote in a set of polling stations and citizens who selected the categories male, male transgender/eunuch and khasa-e-mushkil/transgender/third gender vote in different polling stations.[33]

In the 2013 final voters’ list, only 680 registered voters declared themselves as transgender in the whole country. As of October 2017, only 1.456 transgender citizens were registered in the voters’ list, out of 97,02 million registered voters.[34] This low rate of registration for transgender voters shows that, despite recent legal developments in Pakistan, transgender citizens continue to face discrimination in practice.[35]

Example: In 2014, the Supreme Court of India’s ruling in the case National Legal Services Authority vs. Union of India recognized full rights for all genders and created an additional gender category known as “third gender”, in addition to “male” or “female”, establishing that gender recognition should be based on self-identification.

Previous to the court’s decision, the Election Commission of India issued instructions in 2009 to allow voters with diverse gender identity to register under the category of “others”, instead of “male” or “female”.[36] Considering the low rates of enrollment for transgender voters, the Commission organized in 2018 awareness initiatives to promote their registration in the voters’ list in the State of Karnataka, where only 4.552 persons registered under the category “others”.[37] As of 2017, only 1.654 people in the State of Maharashtra were registered in the voters’ list under this same gender indicator, out of the 41.000 transgender people registered in the 2011 population census.[38] These low figures could be mainly explained by the violence and discrimination that the transgender community often faces, as well as the fact that some of its members might not feel comfortable with the “others” category and might prefer to use the “male” or “female” markers when registering in the voters’ list.