In a typical year or even a typical electoral cycle, the election management authority may have little occasion to contact the electorate directly for the purpose of voter education. During a registration initiative, however, the election or registration authority must communicate certain facts and messages to voters and this gives the registration authority an opportunity to add a voter education component to their initiative. The first priority is to present basic information about voter registration – who is eligible to register, how to register and so on – but it is suitable to add messages about the importance of voting. Messages may even target certain groups of voters, such as youth, women, ethnic communities and homeless people.
Factors That Affect Education Programs
The form of voter registration being used will determine the focus of voter education messages. If registration is conducted through door-to-door registration, the emphasis will be on explaining why this is happening and what it involves. Messages will tell people that election or registration officials will be coming to their homes, that the officials will show identification and that these registration officers are going to gather some information needed to add eligible residents of each home to the voters list.
The focus is different in a system using registration centres. Messages will explain to voters the requirements for registration and will tell them when and where to register. In a district served by a mobile registration unit, messages will inform voters of the dates when the unit will be operating in their vicinity.
Door-to-door Registration
If a door-to-door registration is the method chosen for registering voters, the education programme must publicise the dates and hours when it will take place – particularly since the time when registration officers will make their rounds is often fairly brief. Another facet of voter education resides in the card that registration officers leave at an address where they find no one at home. The card can explain further steps for registering voters at that address; for example, it may give a date when registration officers will make a return visit, or leave a telephone number to call for information.
Security is an important issue in conducting a door-to-door registration. Since voters are asked to open their doors to registration officers, an impostor might seek to gain illegal or unwanted access to a home. The voter education program should explain how to recognize bona fide registration officers and what identification these officials will carry.
Equally important is providing for the security of the registration officers . A common safeguard is the requirement that they work in pairs. This might raise costs and necessitate further efforts to find registration officers who can work together harmoniously, but the security benefits are substantial. Registration guidelines themselves may require that two registration officers work together, with each representing a different political interest and/or nominated by a different political party.
Registration Centres
In a system using registration centres, voter education will emphasise the importance of registering and will explain the dates,times for registration and the locations of centres. Other messages may tell voters what documentation they need to bring to the registration centre (e.g. proof of identity, address or citizenship), whether they can register family members as well as themselves, or what to do if they cannot visit a registration centre during the publicized hours of operation.
Security is also a key here. Each registration centre must be assessed by the registration authorities and security officials. Registration centres may be categorised into hot spot, moderate risk and low risk areas. In this way, security can be deployed according to the thread rating.
Voter Education Partners
Voter education programmes should seek to involve the major media outlets in publicising important information, through paid advertising or free public service announcements. In a country where the only major media outlets are state- or government-operated, it may be a considerable challenge to ensure political impartiality. If that is so, community organisations, non-governmental organizations and political parties themselves may help to publicise why voter registration is important and how to register.
In newer democracies, foreign-based non-governmental organizations may provide assistance for voter education. In these (as well as most) cases, the central message may simply be “You must register to vote.”
Continuous Register and Civil Registry
For the initial development of a continuous list, voter education requirements are similar to those for the development of a periodic list. The difference is that the periodic list is used for only one electoral event, and whether or not someone is listed has no bearing beyond that event. In contrast, the success of an initial registration drive for a continuous list helps determine the longer-term success of the register and thus of the democratic process. Education efforts should communicate this point to potential voters so that they fully understand the implications of choosing not to register.
Civic education about registration also has a role in a country with a civil registry system. Since participation in the registry is usually mandatory, messages should inform citizens about any new requirements and the penalty for non-compliance. Citizens also need to know how compliance or non-compliance affects their civic and/or democratic rights. For example, if they fail to register by the announced cut-off date before an election, they might have to pay a fine and might have no way to establish their eligibility to vote in that event.
Scale of Education Efforts
The scale of a civic education program depends on a country’s previous experience with collecting information about its citizens and holding democratic elections. If there is a tradition of maintaining civic records and organising free and fair elections, voter awareness will generally be well developed and the education program may be modest. A greater effort is needed if the registration system has recently been revamped, or if the country has little experience with registration and democratic elections.
