This question is posted on behalf of an ACE user in Libya

I'm acquainted with different types, methods and alternatives for voter registration as well the basic principles and international standards in this regard. However, most of the standards were qualitative (addressing transparency, accessibility, etc.) but I couldn't find anything on quantitative standards regarding person-initiated registration.

In other words, what if a state adopts the person-initiated registration, but only 20% of the eligible voters registered. Are there standards in this regard? Or will it only be a matter of internal political legitimacy? 

This is the case in Libya now, elections are happening very soon (by February 2014) and voter registration is closing in 2 days (after being extended) while only 18% of the eligible citizens have registered. It's not expected to be more than 20% and I'm working on this matter, but I lack some data here. Help is very much appreciated.

Facilitators' note: A similar discussion in 2012 concluded among others, that “a figure below 60% would be considered low in most jurisdictions”. This question goes beyond that into a specific situation with self-initiated registration, very low registration rates and short deadlines.

Summary of Responses

PN members weighed in on voter registration standards, reasons for low registration rates, and shared suggestions for improving registration rates in Libya.

One member noted that voluntary voter registration exercises have the potential to reach 70-80 % of populations when there are effective voter education and awareness programs. Additionally, the member suggested that scenarios with only 20% of the eligible population registering will not yield credible democratic elections. 

Another member cited General Comment 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which states “states must take effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote are able to exercise that right.” In line with this the member suggested that states with low voter registration rates fail to meet ICCPR obligations. 

Several members commented on the causes of low registration rates. Some of the causes mentioned include:

• A lack of electoral sensitization and voter education programs. 
• Public perceptions of the electoral system, which may be shaped by people’s experiences in past electoral processes and results. 
• The marginalization of specific communities (E.g.  In the case of Libya, Kufra and along the southern border, and in Tawargha and Bani Walid).
• A lack of trust in the EMB among NGOs, political parties and other stakeholders, resulting in a lack of will to mobilize the public to register.

Furthermore, members also suggested steps to address the issue of low registration rates. Some of these include: 

• Putting in place a sensitization plan to be implemented by EMBs, civil society, NGOs, political parties, administrative authorities and local authorities. 
• Extending the time allowed for registration. 
• Ensuring there are enough accessible registration centers. 
• Ramping up voter outreach strategies to engage the eligible population, such as house-to-house visits. 
• Incentivising the public to register (E.g. Providing a financial reward for every voter registering)
• Lobbying the government to make the voter certificate the national identity card. 
• Automatically updating the High National Elections Commission (HNEC) voter list used during the previous elections, instead of having a voter registration process.  

Contributing Members

• Carl Dundas
• Rumiana Decheva
• Alamine Simon Addih
• Toby Ralph
• Tetteh Ankama Okyne
• Tomasz Blasiak
• Horacio Boneo
• Ashraf Shuaibi
• Vasil Vashchanka
• Liberata Irambona
• Evelyne Ogandaga
• Ochana Patrick
• Christine Ndayishimiye
• Corine Mahussi Y. Azanhoue
• Vincent de Paul Taty

It is not clear what the low registration turnout is attributed to - mere lack of interest, poor motivation, violence or otherwise; and whether or not there was insufficient voter registration education programmes by the EMB. Internationally, voluntary voter registration exercises achieve in the region of 70-80% of the estimated number of eligible persons, if there is timely and good quality awareness programmes. For whatever reasons that gave rise to the lack of interest, registration of 20% of the eligible persons, which may mean that an even lower percentage of qualified persons will turn out to vote; such scenario will not achieve credible democratic elections.   

Following massive displacement of people, caused by conflict, active registration already adds to the trust in the electoral process.  Fifth of the electorate could be a base for HNEC to build up throughout the forthcoming elections cycle. In February, however, all Libyan citizens should be encouraged to vote and no legitimate voter should be turned back on the grounds of existing voters roll, closed 2 months ahead of the poll. In due time, voters may further benefit from the opportunity to register. To ease the process, all who have not been previously on the roll but turn to vote could be added to the voters roll for the next elections. So, the voters roll will gradually help in the preparation and administration of the elections in the country.

Only strong political will for fairness guarantees inclusive process. In the specific case of Libya, there are alienated communities in Kufra and along the southern border, in Tawargha and Bani Walid, among many others. Only an inclusive register, open to all Libyan citizens, will serve the purpose of the initiated active registration.

Good luck!

The low registration could be explained by many reasons :

- Lack of interest by the voters because of the behavior of the potential candidates. Sometime in the former election they didn't respect they election programm;

- The lack of electoral sentization and voters education strategies;

- The voter registration is not obligatory for the persons;

- The statut of the voter card. Sometime the voter card can be used as national card;

- the perception of the population about the voter registration. Is the process of the voter registration transparency, inclusive and fair?

To boost the voter registration the electoral member body (EMB) must sensititize the population, civil society, NGO, political partis, administrative authorities and local authorities. The sentization plan must be deployed before, during and after the operation.

The quantitative standard data is 100% or 99% (ideal). However the EMB can determine an interval of confiance like 95% of lucky to register the voters within 5% of error. In this case EMB can evaluate the risk. I advise you to use the statistic's tools in the quantitative approach.

Good luck.

Simon ADDIH.

I would have expected toward 65% registration in Libya, so am extremely surprised by the low response. The short term solution must lie in time - being another extension - and money - being up to $8 per person that needs to be registered for intensive outreach programs (the shorter the period, the greater the investment required). Both are complex, but the alternative is even more unattractive.

Happy hunting

Toby Ralph

[email protected]

the processes must be repeated with a considerable amount of time for voter education

Such elections will be easily challenged. 

If possible, registration should be extended/reopened. 20% is a simple recipe for failure. Did you research what is the reason for such low turnout? How frequently do you get reports from the field? Maybe error is in the reports (as it was in Afghanistan at some stage)?

On the e-day registration sometime helped but dangerous and expensive plus open opportunity for frauds. If you use ink for election you cannot use ink for registration...

Do the voters have any official ID issued or is there any civil register that you could use? I assume this is not very credible document anyway... In Iraq, the list from the ministry of social affairs (family based) was used at the very beginning since it was the most complete, but it needed to be cleaned from deceased and multiple registrations. 

You can mark ID with a special ink (penetrating plastic) or with a puncher (i.e. not in a standard shape - cross or star - so not available around) that you can order in China for 2$ if your procurement can handle it on time and no legal objections to making holes/marks on national IDs. 

Safeguards, such as indelible ink are not the strongest tool nowadays. You can risk that but I have seen too much to believe in the silver nitrate alone...

Biometric devices - require an on-line verification (if no VL exist) and is extremely expensive, especially connectivity and usually last minute deployment. You do not want to rely entirely on the quality of connection in your project so I will not go there.

Please let me/us know what did you decide? 

tomasz

[email protected]

With the exception of those Registers of Voters which are derived from other population data basis (Civil Register, National IDs, etc.) in all other cases the citizen should present himself to a Registration Centre.  This may be exclusively based on the wish of the citizen, although registration is obligatory in a number of cases.  The main difference between one system and the other is usually related to the approach followed in relation to where register.  In the so-called continuous registration, the EMB keeps open throughout the in between elections period a number of places where citizens can register (few, if they are limited to the EMB, many, if registration can be done in other offices like municipality, civil registration offices, or places where driving licenses are issued).  In the ad-hoc registration, an intensive effort is concentrated in a short period (around 60 days) when a large number of registration centers are opened shortly before elections take place.  From your description, the last is the case of Libya.  If that is the case, I suppose that an adequate number of registration places have opened, and the electoral authorities, some ONGs and the political parties conduct campaigns to remind citizens of the need of registering in order to vote.  If all this was done more or less properly, the 20% figure is abnormally low.  I can’t remember a single case, in the more than 80 countries where I have been involved, of such a low figure.  You may have that sort of percentage for a small group (for instance, poor rural indigenous women in Guatemala) but I have never seen something like that for a whole population.

I think it's a big mistake to start registration from scratch while you had an elections just before a couple of years and there was no major problems with the voters list that you had. I think this voters registry exercise should be an update of the voters list that HNEC had and not new one.

The issue of quantitative standards should be seen in light of the general obligation of States to take effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote are able to exercise that right (CCPR General Comment 25). The Human Rights Committee also expects for State reports to describe factors which impede citizens from exercising the right to vote and the positive measures which have been adopted to overcome these factors. From this perspective, low voter registration rates suggest that the State has not met its obligation to ensure effective exercise of the right to vote.

Maybe that low registration could be the result of a lack of electoral sentization and voters education program. Or the population's perception on the electoral system. I will suggest for them to program a registration campaign for 2 weeks and go house to house otherwise election with only 20% of eligible voters registered is really a big challenge, there will be no legitimacy of those elections.  

La liste électorale est établie sur la base des inscriptions des électeurs au niveau national. Dans mon pays, elle fait l'objet d'une révision par l'Administration avec la participation de la Commission Electorale Nationale. La période dure 25 jours avec une possibilité de prorogation de 5 jours par arrêté du Ministre chargé de l'Intérieur. Des commission de révision sont mises en place dans chaque province et dans chaque mission diplomatique. La révision de la liste électorale prend en compte les nouvelles inscriptions, les décès et les changements de résidence. En conséquence, le problème que vous posez pourrait relever d'un manque de sensibilisation des populations et quelle est la pièce d'identité requise pour s'inscrire? Toutes les couches sociales la détiennent? les inscriptions ont -elles été accompagnées de campagnes d'éducation civique? ce sont autant de choses qui favorisent l'adhésion des populations. 20% est un chiffre trop bas pour une élection crédible.

The purpose of compiling voters register is for conducting elections. For elections to be conducted and results be accepted by political players, the conduct of voters registration must be transparent and accepted by all stakeholders. In the case of Libya, the low turnup could be attributed to the following:

1. Stakeholders are not comfortable with the conduct and system of voters registration.

2. Stakeholders such as political parties, candidates, religious leaders and others do not

    have trust in the EMB so they dont get involved in mobilizing peple to register.

3. The previous elections could have planted in peoples minds that participating in elections

    activities is waste of time, particularly if there were many irrigularities which they think

     have not yet been addressed.

Therefore, EMB should bring all the players on boards and discuss the way forward and make tgem get involved from the beginning to the end.

Create as many easily accessible registration centers as possible.

Propose to government to have the voters certificate become national identity to entice voters

Make registration officials residence of the areas who can easily mobilise the people  

Christine Ndayishimiye du Burundi

La question mérite d'être posée car ce pourcentage est trop faible pour que les autorités élues aient une légitimité nécessaire .Quand le taux de participation est moins de  60% dans un pays quelconque, il y a lieu de mener une étude scientifique du contexte socio politique du pays concerné pour décortiquer les raisons de ce manque d'intérêt de la population pour les élections car en effet, elles peuvent varier d'un pays à un autre ou alors d'une élection à une autre. Dans le cas de La LIBYE, ce sont les acteurs de la vie socio politique de ce pays même qui peuvent répondre à la question ou alors un consultant.

Bonjour! Notre pays le Congo avait des sérieux problème avec la liste électorale, il y a des milliers d'électeurs sur la liste sauf que pour tous les scrutins, le taux de participation était toujours faible. Le constat ainsi fait, nous a poussé à faire des recherches sur cette question du taux de participation très très faible. Le constat c'est que les listes électorales étaient falsifiées. Il y a eut des électeurs fictifs pour faciliter et favoriser la fraude. Pour nos pays qui se cherchent en démocratie, il serait pour vous une bonne chose d'avoir des vrais électeurs sur les listes que des fictifs même si le taux d'inscription est faible. Il faudrait que vous puissiez sensibiliser les populations car les inscriptions sur les listes sont volontaires et les électeurs ne viennent pas d'eux même pour se faire inscrire il faut accentuer la sensibilisation des électeurs. Il y a donc un grand travail à faire car il manque la culture démocratique pour nos populations. Le Congo a essayer de reprendre les inscriptions des électeurs en procédant à un enregistrement volontaire de tous les citoyens en âge de voter ce, de parcelle en parcelle.....cette méthode n'a pas rassurer tout les partenaires au processus car certaines localités ont vu le taux d'accroissement des personnes en âge de voter dépasser le 20% en deux ans chose impossible selon les normes internationales il serait bon que vous voir comment enrôler les citoyens tout en tenant compte de l'état civil.