Voter Registration

Topic IndexGeneral Issues

This section examines advantages and disadvantages of various voter registration systems, including the three major types:

periodic list
continuous register or list
civil registry

There is not a best type of voter registration system for all countries and circumstances. It is important that a country chooses the system that is most suitable for its context.

The section also discusses key issues that arise in the administration of voter registration systems. They include:

Administrative considerations: Voter registration initiatives may use different procedures, but all must address common issues and concerns. These include the choice of system, logistical planning, and registration officers selection and training.
Encouraging registration: Currency, accuracy and completeness are the three criteria for evaluating performance in voter registration. To score well on these criteria, registration must be simple and user-friendly, with no direct financial cost to voters.
Characteristics of eligible voters: T, These pertain to the criteria for being allowed to vote. They are usually set by law. They should be broad enough so that all or virtually all adult residents with citizenship can register to vote.
Voters' proof of identity: Once eligibility criteria have been set, the election management authority administers them, and establishes standards and procedures for voters to prove that they are registered. The voter identification card may be used to provide the necessary proof.
Voluntary versus mandatory registration: The choice is usually made by politicians, not electoral administrators. In a mandatory registration system, administrators must strive to make the process easier for voters while ensuring the integrity of the voters’ list.
Self-initiated versus state-initiated registration: This is another choice usually made by political authorities. Under either system, there are a number of options for facilitating voter registration.
Non-resident voter registration: There is a growing trend toward enabling voters to register and vote if they are away from their electoral district or even out of the country at the time of an election. Registration practices have been developed particularly for non-resident voters.
Political parties and interest groups: Election management authorities must maintain contact with stakeholders in the voter registration process, particularly political parties. The stakeholders may play a crucial role by endorsing the voter registration process. In doing so they confer legitimacy on the election itself.
Voting location: The voter registration exercise may provide valuable information helping to choose fair, politically neutral and accessible locations for voting stations.
Anonymous registration: Some voters have valid reasons for not wanting their name and other identifying information (e.g. telephone number or address) to appear in a published voters’ list. Election management authorities often must develop techniques for the registration of these anonymous or “silent” voters.
Registration in a situation of multiple jurisdictions: In many places, people are eligible to vote in elections for different levels of government, whether local, regional, national or other. An appropriate voters’ list is needed for elections at each level. Election management authorities have a range of options for preparing the lists, with varying degrees of cooperation between the different levels.
Provisions for preventing fraud: They are essential for electoral integrity. A number of techniques deter electoral fraud by individuals, groups or governments.
Secondary uses of the voters’ list: The voters’ register may be useful for secondary purposes, including setting spending limits for political parties (based on a per-voter formula) or guiding decisions on electoral boundaries.
Multi-part forms: The paper forms used by election management authorities for registration can be designed to increase efficiency in the recording and use of data.
Outsourcing: Outsourcing of equipment and services may offer significant advantages to election authorities, but safeguards are needed to maintain the integrity of registration and voting.
Computerisation: It can greatly assist in the voter registration process, which involves gathering, recording, storing, updating, filing, extracting and printing basic electoral information. However, computerisation has advantages and disadvantages. It is important to evaluate both and make a well-informed choice.

Technology:

Technology is increasingly playing a central part in the voter registration process in view of EMB’s use of technological solutions. Aside from computers, other technologies are useful in voter registration, particularly technologies for data collection, compilation, entry, matching, recognition, sharing, storage and transmission. Various types of technologies are for instance used to capture physical features of voters in the biometric registration process. Magnetic tapes, disks and drives are used to store biometric particulars of voters. Imaging technologies are the type of technology used to capture or match data of specific voters. In addition to being utilised to assign voters to specific geographic locations, geographic information systems (GIS) can also be used to ensure the integrity, quality and security of voters’ data.

E-registration: Many jurisdictions are considering the use of electronic registration (e-registration) techniques to make the voter registration process easier. Different options may be suited to differing circumstances.
Targeted registration: It tries to reach an identifiable group of voters, usually with historically lower rates of registration than the general population. Examples may be youth, members of ethnic communities, women, people with disabilities, displaced communities
Voter registration methods and participation: Should the election management authority make active efforts to achieve high registration rates among all segments of the population or might such efforts compromise the neutrality of the electoral administration? Is a more neutral approach preferable?
Cost considerations: Voter registration is one of the most costly components of the electoral process. There are various factors that affect registration costs, and various ways of achieving cost savings and efficiencies.

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Voter Registration