Citizens have to fulfill another requirement to vote: they have to be registered in the electoral register.  Such a requirement is fundamental.  The electoral register is a catalogue within which citizens entitled to vote are included.  The inclusion of citizens in such a register implies that citizens have met other requirements and are residents of a valid electoral territory. 

Depriving a qualified voter from being included in the voter register is equivalent to denying the fundamental right of suffrage, therefore the, “international standard for voter registration is that the register must be comprehensive, inclusive, accurate and up to date, and the process must be fully transparent.”[i]  Electoral laws have to establish adequate and simple mechanisms aimed at promoting the inclusion of qualified voters in the voter register.    As has been said, electoral registries play a fundamental role in generating trust among citizens. Equally, the voter register must safeguard against the improper inclusion of persons not qualified or the multiple inclusion of qualified voters. However creating and maintaining a voter registry is by no means an easy task as, “Establishing and maintaining accurate voter registers at the national level, or voter lists at the regional or local level, can be one of the most difficult and, sometimes, the most controversial elements of an election process.”[ii] 

There are two basic classes of voter registers: “Active, or affirmative, registration systems require individuals to apply to be registered as voters. In passive systems the voter register is compiled automatically on the basis of residency or citizenship registers, or some other form of record.”[iii] Sometimes voter registers are compiled through a combination of these approaches.   “Active” registration systems place the emphasis on the voter and so informing and motivating voters to register is a necessary adjunct.  In general, “are somewhat more likely to exclude ineligible persons, such as those who have died or those who have permanently emigrated from the country.”[iv]  Passive or state initiated systems may take the form of drawing a voter register from other government records such as a national registry or may be compiled exclusively for an election by a door to door enumeration, or by a combination of both.  The success of this approach is directly impacted by the reliability and currency of national records in the case the voter register is drawn down or compiled from existing records. In general, comprehensive active systems, “are more likely to ensure that all eligible voters are registered, though they do not guarantee that more of these constituents will actually turn out to vote.”[v] 

In either case, the resulting voter register should be made public so that voters and political representatives alike may review the register to ensure that qualified voters are included (and included only once) and unqualified persons are not included. The notion of transparency of the register of voters is critical in the same way as accuracy is critical.  It follows that the legal framework needs to clearly establish the processes by which the voter register may then be revised and that process as well must remain transparent. In doing so, the legal framework must specify, “sufficient time for eligible voters to register, for public inspection of the voters’ roll, for objections and for the adjudication of appeals.”[vi] 

Some countries as well permit registration of voters on early voting days and election day.  Additions to the voter register at the voting place require establishing the qualifications of the voter to vote and in that particular electoral district.  Additions to the voter register at voting places need to be tracked carefully to avoid the potential for double voting. 

In a typical situations such as an immediate post conflict situation where records are simply not available, there may not even be a voter register and instead voters would present themselves on election day and establish their identity and qualifications right at the voting station.  In such cases, the risk of multiple voting necessarily increases and so other security features such as dipping a finger of the voter in indelible ink is often introduced. 

In whatever manner voter information is collected for the register, that information should be limited to what is required to establish the qualification to vote and the legal framework should specify that other than purposes related to the conduct of the election that the information shall not be used for unauthorized purposes.  The legal framework should specify if there are any other valid purposes for which the list may be used, for example for campaigning by candidates or for citizen contact by the elected members.Often voter registries are maintained centrally on the national level, however, in federal states it is often the case that regional and local authorities will maintain registries as well for their own purposes or may contribute to the national registry.

 Whatever the nature of the voter register and the jurisdictional relationships involved, the responsibility for the accuracy of the voter registers lies with a local or central state authority or electoral management body, “must ensure that voter registers are maintained in an accurate and transparent manner.”[vii] The stakes are high because,” Inaccurate voter registers can disenfranchise voters, undermine public confidence in election results, and create opportunities for manipulation or fraud.”[viii]