Voter registration is often the most costly part of conducting an election, at least for electoral administrators. Of course parties and candidates may spend vast sums in their election campaigns but they often raise this money privately. In some countries, parties do receive public funding to cover part or all of their operational and campaign expenses. Nonetheless, voter registration is often the single biggest budget item for registration and election administrators.
Registration is costly because it involves a wide range of responsibilities. Current information must be collected on every single eligible voter within a population that may range from tens of thousands to hundreds of millions – a sizable task. Added to this is the need for registration to be comprehensive and inclusive, and the critical role played by effective voter registration in conferring legitimacy on the electoral process. Further, voter registration often takes place in the heated atmosphere of an election campaign, when scrutiny is particularly close and mistakes may be magnified in importance.
In a jurisdiction with a periodic voters’ list, registration costs are incurred within a relatively short time rather than spread over the electoral cycle, as they are in a jurisdiction using a continuous list or a civil registry. The costs involved in generating a periodic list may be a major component of overall election costs but they appear less heavy when compared against the costs of maintaining a continuous list. In short, whether a periodic or a continuous list is used, voter registration costs will account for a very considerable share of the election management authority’s budget allocation. With a civil registry, registration costs are also very high (perhaps much higher than with either of the other two forms of voter registration) but the costs are not borne directly by the election management authority.
The cost spikes involved in the use of a periodic list certainly are a major factor to be weighed in deciding on one or another type of voter registration process. Other factors to be considered are ability to use a computerised registration process and the capacity for data sharing between government bodies and the election management authority. The continuous list depends on data-sharing partnerships that enable the election management authority to receive changes in personal information reported by citizens to other public bodies, such as the post office, taxation agency or driver’s licence bureau. Use of this information to update the voters list helps make a continuous list cost-effective.
Determining Costs
In the development of comprehensive and inclusive voters lists, numerous questions arise that could affect costs. How many registration centres should be established, for example, and how many workers must be trained to staff them? Are voter identification cards necessary or do most citizens already carry sufficient personal identification to make the cards superfluous? If cards are used, should they include photographs, fingerprints and other security features? If the cards must be laminated, is cold lamination acceptable, eliminating the need for electricity? Are there other sources of data on voters that can help in updating lists, especially data on high-mobility urban voters?
Another issue is how costs are distributed in the first place. Are they concentrated in the periods between elections, higher in election years or spread out over the entire electoral cycle?
The answers to these and many other questions have important implications for the overall cost of the registration process.
Costs of Computerisation
The costs involved in computerising the voter registration system are likely to be substantial. First, building the computer system requires initial investments in hardware, software and skilled support staff. Next are the costs of ongoing operation and maintenance of the system. Maintenance alone may be a major cost if it includes upgrading the hardware and software as new releases and performance improvements become available. Also ongoing is the cost of training operators and support personnel to handle upgrades, as well as the cost of using the technology between and during electoral events.
Finally, if the administrative functionality, that is, the structure for operating the entire voter registration initiative, is built into the computer system, contingency plans are needed for a possible system failure. The plans may call for generators, additional batteries, alternative networks and other back-up systems, as well as round-the-clock support services provided by contractors.
Budgeting for Registration Costs
It is difficult to provide an overall country-by-country comparison of the costs of voter registration for periodic and continuous lists since budget presentation may vary, as may the types of expenses included under voter registration. More useful would be to treat voter registration as a process involving a number of identifiable components, and to develop a budget that focuses on achieving its deliverables within a pre-established framework and agreed method of registration.
Registration costs can easily escalate to consume an ever-growing proportion of the election budget. Much of the costs will be for items used by local registration offices but paid for by the central election management authority. The items include essentials such as:
- office rental
- office equipment
- stationery
- staff recruitment
- staff training
- staff wages and expenses (especially travel)
- registration materials (e.g. forms, registration cards, staff identification badges)
- production of voter identification cards (including photographers, film, cameras, backdrop, plastic laminate)
- communications (telephone, fax, postal services)
- transport and distribution of voting registration equipment, materials, and personnel
- security forces (police and/or military) provide voter registration security free of direct charge
The central election management authority may control registration costs by imposing ceilings on salaries, working hours and materials. It may put constraints on the total size and quality of office space as well as equipment leased or purchased for offices. It may set rules specifying what items are eligible expenses.
At the same time, the election management authority may need some flexibility in its budgeting for voter registration so that it can accommodate unforeseen expenses. For example, in a jurisdiction using a continuous list, it may become evident during the revision period that the list contains incorrect information for a larger-than-expected number of voters. This could make it necessary to take certain steps, including hiring and training extra staff, leasing extra equipment and negotiating more service contracts, with the result that registration costs climb above target. Because the registration effort is so important to ensuring the legitimacy of the election, the extra costs must be accepted for the short term. With good planning guided by past experiences, it may be possible to minimise the impact of such unanticipated events.
Factors Contributing to High Costs
The following are some of the factors that can drive up the cost of the registration initiative:
- Use of voter identification cards, especially with photograph included:Cards are used particularly in jurisdictions with a continuous voters list Although this item tends to be costly, it may be justified by the quality improvement resulting from better identification of voters. Security features should be chosen for their potential to significantly enhance the integrity of the voter identification card and the voters list. Aggressive sales techniques may sometimes convince election management authorities to add security features that offer little benefit. Each security feature raises the cost of the card.
- Low population density: A factor obviously beyond the control of the election management authority, a scattered population may require a larger number of registration officers, voting divisions and registration centres. A key principle guiding registration is that the cost to voters should not be prohibitive, including transportation costs or wages lost for time away from work. The election managment authority thus has a duty to ease the burden of registration, even if this means setting up a relatively large number of registration centres or using mobile registration units. The principle applies whether the responsibility for initiating registration rests with the individual or the state.
- Length of registration period: The longer the registration period is, the more costly it becomes. Costs may be controlled by keeping the period relatively short as well as by using more registration centres and personnel.
- Use of non-standard materials: Whenever the materials used in a registration drive are not consistent with applicable standards, the production costs may increase. When producing voter identification cards, for example, it is important to choose a size and type of card compatible with the laminating equipment to be used. The way to avoid incompatibilities is to start by getting estimates for a total package – that is, all the components of card production, including stock, photographic slides and lamination.
- Obsolescence of material: New technologies are constantly being developed and it may happen that the system or material recently purchased by an electoral management authority ha a limited lifespan so that by the time that the next election comes around the electoral management authority again incurs the cost of having to purchase new equipment.
Cost Savings and Efficiencies
Some rules of thumb can promote greater efficiency and cost savings in voter registration. They include the following:
- Don't reinvent the wheel: Much has been learned about voter registration in many democracies. Adopt models that have proven successful elsewhere.
- Use existing databases: If possible, incorporate reliable data from existing databases, such as tax records.
- Combine activities to increase efficiency: When contacting voters to advise them of their current registration information, take the opportunity to provide voter education information (e.g. voting station location).
- Strive for a sustainable process: When designing a registration process, incorporate ways of using the data again or elsewhere.
- Use an integrated system for compiling and storing data: The data system created for one component of voter registration could be used for another. For example, data collected for drawing up voters’ lists may be useful for the delimitation of constituencies.
- Share information and resources wherever and whenever possible: This can avert duplication of effort or tasks at different levels of government or administration. Some jurisdictions collect virtually the same data at the national and regional (state or provincial) levels, creating inefficiencies that are difficult to justify.
