In an effort to make the electoral process more accessible and facilitate voter registration, more and more countries—including Germany, Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States—are allowing mail-in voter registration. Some countries (Canada, Denmark, Australia, Britain) are looking into using new technology to provide on-line registration opportunities; in New Zealand electors were able to register on-line for the 2005 election. [1]
These methods can help increase the registration rate, but they raise concerns that an ineligible person might register or someone might register more than once either intentionally or by mistake. The risk of fraud is quite high since it is more difficult to authenticate the identity of the person registering. That is why registration by mail or on-line requires a verification system to ensure that the person seeking to register is eligible. To prevent duplicate registrations, new names must be verified before they are added to the voters list. Regular review of voters lists is an effective way of minimizing error and fraud.
NOTES
[1] Elections New Zealand, Everything You Need to Know About Enrolling to Vote.
