Civic and voter education is implemented by a wide variety of organisations and individuals. It is supported and sponsored by election administrators; democratically elected governments through various state agencies and/or offices; constitutionally established bodies such as human rights commissions; and international, regional, and domestic civil society organisations.
Such education became increasingly important during the wave of democratisation that resulted in founding and transitional elections in Africa and Eastern Europe. This upsurge in democracy also evoked reconsideration of the importance of organised initiatives to protect and stimulate democracy in more-settled democracies.
All these efforts made use of the best available insights into communication, information, and education technologies and methodologies. Practice rather than prescription became the norm. As a result, the field is driven by a commitment to an informed and invigorated electorate rather than to a set of readily discernible principles. This has made it possible for each national election enterprise to reconsider the important themes, methods, educational practice, available resources, and domestic limitations that govern not only the general voter and civic education programmes that might repeat from one year to the next, but also the specific programme necessary for each election, referendum, or plebiscite.
The topic area draws examples from a variety of contexts, but these are only indicative. Each country must develop its own programme within the broad parameters of the universal commitment to free and fair elections.
Why Educate Voters?
Voter education takes place to assist the election administration in its task of delivering a free, fair, efficient, and cost-effective election. It encompasses the basic voter information that every voter must have in order to arrive prepared at the voting station and vote on the set voting day(s). Voter education sensitise the electorate on the importance of participating in elections.
Voter education provides the background attitudes, behaviour, and knowledge amongst citizens that stimulate and consolidate democracy. During an election, this education will ensure effective organisation and activism by citizens in support of parties and/or causes, behaviour by citizens that is appropriate to a peaceful election, acceptance of the results, and tolerance of competition and opposition.
Education on its own cannot sustain democracy. However, education can protect democracy when citizens are supported in their activity by a responsive and democratic state. Indeed, an educated citizenry can even overcome inadequacies in administrative preparations for an election.
Who Should Conduct Voter Education?
A national voter education programme is a costly activity if it is the sole burden of the election management authority. It is best done by an alignment of all the available resources in a country, especially if the particular election is of great significance. The election management authority will select ways in which to achieve this alignment by introducing regulations, incentives, and information that only they can provide.
Some election management authorities have found it easier to organize and stimulate voter education programmes than to ensure that the contestants in an election participate vigorously and fairly. Voter education must be matched, however, by the development of a climate of election activity and a public debate about the issues and contestants. Election management authorities should encourage partisan activities to educate voters as well as the necessary non-partisan voter education programmes over which they preside.
A National Programme
Constructing a national programme requires attention to the detail of this topic area, and due consideration should be given to an assessment of the context within which an election is to take place (see Assessing the Context). Without this assessment, educators can find themselves slavishly following inappropriate examples or adapting inappropriate educational and informational models. Education is a melding of content with appropriate media and methods. These methods are well documented in development and educational theory and there is no need to adopt, for example, models from established wealthy democracies in countries with fewer resources and a different culture.
Having established the context, educators must establish programme goals and objectives (see Constructing a Mandate and Educational Objectives). Election management authorities can be involved in this activity and will be able to use these goals and objectives to evaluate the success of any programme and the budgets that should be made available to it.
