The Question

This question was posed on behalf of Ibrahim A. Kakembo, Senior Election Officer, Electoral Commission Uganda

As part of my work with voter registration in Uganda*, I am interested in actions undertaken by Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) in order to enhance participation in voter registration processes, and in how EMBs can encourage voters to check the voters roll while it is being displayed to the public. I would therefore like to ask:

• What examples are there of successful strategies for increasing participation in voter registration processes?
• What actions have other EMBs undertaken to successfully encourage voters to check the voters roll while it is being displayed to the public?

* The Electoral Commission is responsible for compiling, maintaining, revising and updating the voters register on a continuous basis. It is the duty of every citizen of Uganda of 18 years of age or above to register as a voter for public elections and referenda. (ACE Comparative Data)

 

Summary of Responses

Members of the Practitioners’ Network (PN) shared voter registration experiences from around the world and identified several ways of both encouraging participation in voter registration processes and also verifying registration data. Examples included emphasizing the benefits of being registered to vote, creative avenues for stakeholder engagement, understanding and addressing obstacles to participation in voter registration, minimizing the distance between people and registration stations and implementing strong communication strategies.

Many members strongly recommended having various forms of civic and voter education as a part of any efforts to promote democratic participation, and several responses highlighted the importance of carefully considering the context when designing voter registration strategies.

In the publication Engaging the Electorate: Initiatives to Promote Voter Turnout From Around the World, International IDEA discusses various approaches to encourage voter registration, and the impact of these campaigns on the integrity of elections as well as their possible pros and cons. It was further highlighted by one member that voter registration campaigns targeting specific groups will be scrutinized by political forces that may be disadvantaged by their participation. The member explained that any allegations of bias could be minimized if the Electoral Management Body (EMB) has a clear mandate to target certain groups and if there is evidence of low participation within these groups.

A PN member with experience from the Ugandan context provided recommendations including:

• issuing a quality voter card that is nationally and internationally acceptable to increase participation in voter registration processes (particularly if there is no national identification card in the country); 
• updating registers in a timely manner to avoid missing or misplacing voters from a previous register; 
• institutionalizing effective registration procedures, such as the Ugandan Local Council System;
• making sure that procedures for removing voter from lists are clear, such that for instance those who work away from home, are on study leave or prefer to vote from their area of origin are not arbitrarily deleted by voter registration panels;
• making voter registration and display stations easily accessible (some stations in Uganda are reportedly five or more kilometers away which may prove particularly difficult for vulnerable groups required to register, verify, collect voter identification card and vote); and
• making full use of biometric data processing capacity to weed out duplications etc. in the voter register.

 

The legal/regulatory framework

One PN member raised the Mexican example, where participation in voter registration has been connected to obtaining a free-of-charge national identification card which also serves as a voter identification card. The incentives to obtain the national identification card (used for banking and other administrative services) therefore incentivize voter registration. It was further explained that verification of data is promoted by the fact that essential services require citizens to verify their identity with birth certificates and voter identification cards.

Similar to the Mexican example, another PN member described how the EMB in Ghana has carried out voter education and public information campaigns, and noted that these exercises have benefited from the absence of a proper national identification system. The voter identification card has become the most convenient form of identification for transactions requiring such proof. 

A respondent with experiences from Haiti noted that connecting the national identification card with voter identification solved some problems in that country as well.

 

Communication strategy

The EMB in Senegal has also engaged the electorate in voter registration processes with the help of commercials in radio and television etc., and administrative authorities are present at local markets and villages to reach the rural population. Political parties and CSOs also raise awareness among their members and the Ministry of Justice has supported these efforts by providing birth certificates at a reduced cost. The voter lists are displayed both online as well as around the country and press releases are used to call people to go and verify their information.

In East Timor, one PN member mentioned that community radio stations were supported as part of voter information campaigns. Another member shared that the EMB in South Africa also engages in broad voter information efforts in advance of general elections and by-elections, reaching out through the media and allowing verification of data through call centres and SMS services.

The Kenyan EMB developed SMS and web applications where 2.4 million SMS messages were received for verification of voter registration data and where the EMB website allowed for online verification. This was in addition to displaying the voter lists for 14 days at voter registration centres. Responses also noted that an SMS platform was developed in Ghana to allow voters to verify their voter registration data.

 

Logistical arrangements

One respondent’s experiences from India detailed how voters can contact Booth Level Officers (BLOs) at polling station levels, who are then involved in continuously updating the electoral roll. Voters can also register online, including uploading photos and residence proofs, after which BLOs visit the voters for verification. Moreover, political parties are provided with soft and hard copies of the electoral roll in order to support verification. The voters list is also read out in the local wards, village council meetings or Resident's Welfare Association meetings in order to solicit the communities’ involvement in correcting the list.

Similarly, one member from Rwanda shared that the country’s National Electoral Commission has sought to encourage voter registration by having 65,000 electoral volunteers go door-to-door to register voters, by allowing citizens to check the voter list information via SMS services, by making information available on the Commission’s website, with one month dissemination campaigns for voter identification cards, and by undertaking public advertising campaigns. Mozambique also adopted this technique and the EMB created voter registration brigades that visited targeted small communities, according to another respondent. 

In Georgia, preceding the 2012 parliamentary election, one respondent explained how members of a new independent state commission implemented a door-to-door campaign to verify the voter list, after which a publicity campaign encouraged voters to access an online database to verify registration data or alternatively get in contact with the commission via Facebook, a telephone hotline, an SMS service, or, for Georgians abroad, e-mail communication. 

One PN member from South Africa explained how voter registration offices are usually located in public offices where citizens obtain essential services and promoted to residents of the local communities. The member also detailed how the by-elections carried out in-between general elections are used as an opportunity to allow voters to inspect voter registration data, how outreach is done by cooperating with schools, unions, businesses, traditional leadership, civil society, and how the EMB is carrying out targeted registration efforts and visiting households when boundary delimitation changes require re-registration. 

 

Creative avenues for stakeholder interaction

One member from Uganda explained a strategy used to promote participation that is based on music, with the EMB partnering with popular musicians in the country and staging concerts in various districts. The concerts were free to those who had voter identification cards. In Cambodia, a lottery for all those who registered to vote was organized with lottery prizes being used as registration incentives. The lottery number was each person’s voter identification number. One respondent shared how in Mexico voter registration is further promoted through television and other mediums with the help of celebrities. Finally, the Kenyan example further included Vote Marathon campaigns with free-of-charge participation and cash prizes as well as city clean-up events linked to voter registration.

 

Examples of Related ACE Articles and Resources

• Voter Registration
• Voter Registration Promotion Strategies
• Gathering Changes to Preliminary List

 

External Resources

• Engaging the Electorate: Initiatives to Promote Voter Turnout From Around the World

 

Names of Contributors

• Salima Namusobya
• Deyanira Galindo
• Ibraheem Esam
• Jon Pammett
• Idi Boina
• Dr. Noor Mohammad
• Liberata Irambona
• Ursula Kaczmarek
• Carl Dundas
• Asante Emmanuel Kissi
• Christine Ndayishimiye
• Giovanni Buttigieg
• Bucumi Julius
• Francisco Barrera
• Ababacar Fall
• Paulo Siqueira
• Mosotho Moepya
• Hadija Miiro
• Michel Chajes
• Stina Larserud
• Idiéma Véronique Kando

I have heard of one idea I think would work in Uganda since people like music. In that case, the EMB partnered with very popular musicians in the country and staged concerts in different districts. The concerts were free for all those who had voters' cards. I understand this registered great success. Announcements were made well in advance to allow time for people in particular districts to register before the concerts were held.

Of course civic education remains a constant, but registration and voter register updates must be continuous and not only held towards the election year.

In Mexico there have been set different strategies to encourage the registration, all related to obtain the voter's ID. The ID has more than 15 security safe-locks and is one of the most advanced technologies to process them and the technology to verify the authenticity of the applicant.

1. In Mexico there isn't any other nationwide ID card granted by the government, so the voter's ID card is the only official nationwide identity card that every Mexican should request once turning 18.

Every person who turns 18, or changes his/her address must go to the office of IFE to obtain its ID card. The registration (and voting) is directly related to the citizen's address.

2. IFE, an autonomous State organism, has signed agreements with different institutions to accept it as an official ID, for any banking or business purposes or to register for utility services for your home, or for any legal purposes countrywide. So this is the main reason to obtain the ID.

Young people are eagle to obtain it because in any bar or club they will be requested the ID card which proof to be an adult, in order to allow his/her entrance. 

3. To have the right to vote on E-day, it is mandatory to show your voter's ID card.

4. The card has only a validity of 10 years and you will have to renew it (in order to update the database), and because it will be denied any other commercial, legal service  or identification like registering kids in the school or any other activity, with an expired card, citizens are forced to renew it.

5. The expedition of the voter's ID card is free of charge, all costs are absorbed by IFE, so citizens won't have any problems, or excuse, to attend and obtain his/her voter's ID.

6. In order to encourage citizens to verify and validate all the information regarding their electoral registration, the main reason is because in any service the will have to verify their birth certificate and the Voter's ID card and if there is any inconsistency in both documents no service will be provide, that makes citizens more interested in verifying to every letter matches in each document, particularly for legal purposes.

7. The dissemination campaign in order to encourage to register and obtain the voter's ID card and to verify the correct data, is based on two main pillars: 

a) IFE has the right to administrate part of the State time on TV and radio waves. During the electoral process it has 48 minutes that are administered among political parties and electoral authorities, that is the strongest promotional campaign to encourage the registration.

b) Public advertising with agreeable mottos and scenes to the citizen. IFE has developed very interesting spots: which have a link with the population in different regions of the country and with mottos that people think are funny but they remember and comment very often. 

Other characteristic is public personalities promoting and encouraging to register, TV soap operas actors, etc.

8) And maybe one of the most important is the civic education provided at schools in order to promote among students and in the school the important role of citizenship to participate in the democracy, and the registration is the first step. Maybe this is a slow mechanism but with deeper roots.

It is important to remark that the maintenance, updating and purging the electoral roll is one of the most defiant activities that never success can be claimed at all, since it is a constant renewal activity and it takes a big part of citizen's participation and motivation.

Hello ..

• Public seminars
• Electoral Education
• Media promotion

Work experience voter card and distributed to citizens

Has been the experience of this paragraph in my country, Iraq was a good result

 

Esam Ibraheem - Iraq

A few years I worked on an IDEA publication on this subject, which should still be available. It is called Engaging the Electorate: Initiatives to Promote Voter Turnout from Around the World. This develops a categorization of various programmes. 

JP

J'ai participé à une telle opération en Haiti,j'ai trouvé que le fait de d'utiliser la carte national,comme carte d’électeur résous certains problème et devient facile à encourager les gens d'aller le faire. La carte,est aussi obligatoire pour entrer en classe,de tous les étudiants de 18 ans et plus. Cette même carte est utilisée pour toutes opérations bancaires,et toutes activités administratives.

D'autre part,la sensibilisation qui est assurée par les organisations de la société civile à des heures précises,en commun accord avec les chefs d'établissements, éducatifs et professionnelset des places publiques comme les marchés.

In India the following steps have proved very helpful:

1. Booth Level Officers (BLO) are designated for every polling station. S/he is a government employee given this additional task for which s/he is paid some honorarium in addition to his normal pay. In a continuous updating of the roll scenario, about 100 cases of additions, deletion or modification annually are to be attended in each polling station which was possible to do as an additional work. This provided area service approach in which voters could get in touch with their BLO.

2. The voter list was put online with a facility to register online wherein photo and residence proof can be uploaded. Then BLO will visit the given residence address and after verification voters are registered and voter card is issued and sent by post.  BLO can also deliver it by hand.

3. The Voter list is read out in the local wards or village council meetings or the Resident's Welfare Association meetings and the communities involvement is sought to help correct the roll.

4. Voter Education has also been upscaled. Educational institutions are taken on board.  Youth is taken on board and young children are asked to pass the message to their family members. A child is the lifeline of parents and parents do listen to them.

5. NGOs and political parties are also called upon to contribute.  In fact the political parties are provided two copies of the roll - soft and hard copy - to help improve the fidelity of the roll.

These efforts along with hard work done by the election officials has made great improvements in the roll quality.

In Rwanda the National Electoral Commission have set different strategies to encourage the registration like:

1. We have 65000 electoral volunteers and they work house to house on that issue.

2. We use also SMS by mobile phone so that every Rwandan can check his or his data on our voter list,

3. Voter can also visit Rwanda National Electoral Commission web site,there they found guidelines for voter registration,how to check,how to register,

4. We prepare a dissemination campaign for one month  in order to encourage to register and obtain the voter's ID card and to verify the correct data,

NB. Every Rwandan should request once young people turn 16 years old, a  national identity card that is the official document used by the eligible voters to be registered,

5. Public advertising is very important also in our country, we use radio, TV, posters, flyers, road shows to sensitize Rwandan to verify their data every year,

 6. Finally the civic education provided to the population  in order to promote  the important  role of citizenship to participate in the democracy, and participation in election is the most important pillar.

In the months preceding the 2012 parliamentary election in Georgia, a new independent state commission (http://sia.gov.ge/en) undertook an unprecedented door-to-door voter list verification effort. Commission members personally interviewed  residents and examined their ID cards to check against the registration data contained in the existing voter list.

After completing the door-to-door process, the commission launched a publicity campaign to urge voters to access its online database to correct their registration data or add themselves as an active voter if their data was missing. Voters could also interact with the commission via Facebook. Those voters not using the internet could call a hotline or use an SMS service to check or correct their data.  Georgians living abroad were able to send emails and scanned documents to the commission to check and verify their data.  

Voters were generally very happy with the communication means available to them to check their data. 

Hi Ibrahim,

There are many approaches by EMBs to stimulate interest in voter registration exercise. Some times it depends on the registration system in place: where there is a compulsory registration system, a sound awareness programme (vote registration) is good enough. In voluntary registration systems, the method of registration used may influence the strategy used-registration centres approach may require a sound, comprehensive and timely awareness programme to bring the essentials of the registration exercise to qualified persons. Where house-to-house enumeration is used timely information of the exercise is important  for each household concerned. Where mobile registration centres are used information relating to the movement of the station -time, place and duration should be provided on a timely basis. Some times a combination of a form of civil registry information and registration centres or house-to-house enumeration may be used. In cases where continuous (rolling) voter registration is used, the awareness programme should give accurate and timely information on location, time and duration, among other things, of the registration exercise.

Creative approaches in voluntary registration schemes used by a few EMBs include targeting groups, mainly youth, by registering at selected places attactive to youths such as nightclubs and discos at nights, where the registration rules allow it. Other EMBs target women (and men) at supermarkets, markets, banks and post offices and other public places known to attract larges gatherings frequently. (The concept here is to move registration to the qualified persons and not wait on them to find centres or wait at home to be registered.)

As a contributor above noted, music may form part of the content of an awareness programme, but the programme should be tailored to suit the communities concerned, particularly in rustic outreaches. 

It is interesting reading some of the things EMBs are doing to increase participating in voter registraton. Well in Ghana, we have not done much, apart from the normal Voter education, public announcements, education at churches and selected organization on registration. But we always achieve optimum success because in the absence of proper national identification system, the Voter Identification Card has become the easiest form of identification for the ordinary person. Any transaction requiring a form of identification means that the voter identification cards becomes handy.

To overcome the challenge with participation of voters in the exhibition of the voters register, we  developed an SMS paltform and asked voters to text their ID numbers to a shortcode for instant response with their voter details, Infact it was so helpful and increased the percentage of participation.

Christine NDAYISHIMIYE du Burundi

La question du fichier électoral est pertinente dans la mesure où, il s' agit de la toute première étape pour pouvoir participer à une élection quelconque. Lorsque le taux de participation à une élection est faible par exemple moins de 50%, la légitimité du pouvoir qui en sort diminue, c'est pourquoi il faut tout faire pour faire participer le maximum de citoyens par ailleurs la démocratie se veut la plus inclusive possible. Ainsi, des stratégies 'imposent pour avoir une taux de participation conforatable/

1 L'éducation civique est le pilier de toutes les stratégies: elle doit faire partie des programmes scolaires, elle doit être continue, elle doit impliquer toutes les couches de la sociéte: ainsi, les vedettes s'adressent aux jeunes, les religeux à leurs fidèles, les politiciens à leurs sympatisants, même les affiches publicitaires des commerçants doivent contenir des messages d'éducation civique autrement dit c' est une sensibilisation tout azimut.

2 L'exemple que j'ai vu en Afrique du sud peut servir de leçon même si elle nécessite des moyens technologiques importants. Dans ce pays, un enfant qui nait reçoit sa carte d'identité et quand il aura 18 ans, son nom sera transféré automatiquement sur le fichier éléctoral national c' est à dire qu'il n'aura plus à faire d'autres démarches.

* Emphasize the benefits of being registered.  These can be related to voting rights, and possibly to other matters.

* Be creative. 

* Understand what stops people from getting registered, and address those issues.  e.g. organize registration hours to correspond with the working hours of the community - if people go to their fiends between 6 am and 5 pm, it is not very beneficial that they can register between 9 am and 3 pm.

* Make it possible for people to register near locations they already visit, e.g. churches.

To increase the participation of voters in registration process some strategies have to be taken by the EMB. Some of the most important are:

- Intensify civic and voter education through various media, meetings, seminars, sms, internet, facebook etc to reach all population.

- Involve all stakeholders in such activities to relay the messages to their subordinates or members in case of political parties, civil society...

- Have in time a simple recognized  identification document, easy to be got by every body and be used for registration purposes. Encourage the government to deliver it easily or sponsor it in case it would be expensive.

- Clear legal definion of who qualifies to register and vote.

- Increase the number of registration stations to avoid the fatigue, much money expenses for transport, waste of time etc. The more the registration sttions will be far away, the less people will come to registe.

 

For encouraging the voters to come to verify the roll when it is displayed to the  public, also strategies have to be taken such as:

- Print first of all the clear roll by alphabetical order to allow every body to check himself/herself the roll.

- Intensify civic and voter education through various media, meetings, seminars, sms, internet, facebook etc to reach all population.

- Involve all stakeholders in such activities to relay the messages to their subordinates or members in case of political parties, civil society...

-  Increase the number of roll displaying stations to avoid the fatigue, much money expenses for transport, waste of time etc. The more the displaying stations will be far away, the less people will come to check the roll.

 

In all cases, involve all stakeholders and reduce the distance between the population and the point where the election operation to be held.

God bless you, you will succeed!

 

Julius BUCUMI

Inspector of Justice, Burundi

Se pueden asociar los beneficios de la inscripción con los de la participación en las votaciones, casos concretos como: Descuentos en trámites de gobierno que tengan costos, beneficios obligatorios en los trabajos, como horas o días de descanso por la inscripción y la votación, bonos o regalos para funciones o conciertos.

Pero todos los incentivos deben ser promulgados en campañas publicitarias, en trabajos de la comunidad, en trabajos puerta a puerta, tanto para la inscripción como para publicitar los beneficios, que indudablemente deben estar normados o reglamentados.

Au Sénégal diverses stratégies sont utiles pour inciter les citoyens en âge de voter à s'inscrire sur les listes électorales : - d'abord au niveau de l'organisme de gestion électoral, des spots publicitaires sont faits à la radio et à la télévision en plus de communiqués au niveau de la presse écrite. En outre au niveau de chaque commission d'inscription, des banderolles sont déployées durant toute la période que dure la campagne d'inscription pour informer les citoyens sur la période de révision et les cas qui sont concernés. De plus dans les zones rurales, les autorités administratives organisent des commissions itinérantes pour aller trouver les citoyens dans les villages ou les marchés hebdomadaires qui rassemblent beaucoup de monde. Enfin les partis politiques mènent des campagnes de sensibilisation auprès de leurs militants. De plus en plus des mouvements citoyens voient le jour et participent à la sensibilisation. Des audiences foraines sont également organisés par le ministère de la justice pour aider ceux qui n'ont pas été déclarés à l'état civil lors de leur naissance à disposer de jugement à des coûts réduits pour pouvoir s'inscrire. En ce qui concerne le contrôle des listes provisoires, L'oge procède à l'affichage au niveau des mairies et des préfectures et fait des communiqués dans la presse pour appeler les citoyens à aller vérifier qu'ils n'ont pas été omis afin de pouvoir exercer leur droit de recours auprès des juridictions en cas d'omission La liste est également publiée par internet dans le site du ministère de l'intérieur.

Voter Registrations experiences

Increasing participation in voter registration processes is always a challenging experience. During the last year I have had the opportunity to work in several countries on the topic of voter registration. Bellow are some points that I things are important.

• Voter and civic education campaigns are mandatory.
• As much as possible you need the involvement of party politicians, religious leaders and politicians, non-governmental organizations and community leaders.
• Technologies used as a tool to raise confidence in the voter registration process.
• Furthermore, you need a more intense work on technical training EMB’s, including on the understanding of the procedures, communication and public awareness.

 

Few examples:

In Mozambique the EMB created brigades visiting small communities. Priorities were defined by analysing data of the regions that previously had few registered voters. The brigades had the support of religious leaders and tribal chiefs. The brigades had the support of religious leaders and tribal chiefs. Fortunately I had the opportunity to attend some of these extraordinary meetings.

In East Timor an interesting activity was the support for community radio stations, which despite incipient at the time performed a good job.

In Nigeria, donors developed and implemented strong support to the non-governmental organizations that worked voter registration campaigns.

In Kenya to encourage voters to verify their names the EMB developed two technologies using SMS and web applications. According the IEBC, 2,4 million of SMS messages have been received for verification of the elector’s data. Besides of the SMS services, there was a web based service where the registered person was able to verity his/her data using the ID number. The registration centres also displayed the provisional voter list 14 days for inspection.

Other interesting activities were the weekends Vote Marathon campaigns. They were meant to motivate people to register as voters by offering free participation upon registration as voters and cash prizes of up to Kshs. 40,000. More than 800 participated in the Eldoret races while Mombasa had over 400.

Hundreds of Registered Voters Clean-up City Estates event - Simultaneous events were held in several cities in Kenya. The purpose of the massive clean-up campaign was to use the environmental awareness platform to mobilize Kenyans to come out in large numbers and register before the deadline.

 

A small and True Tale on Voter Registration

On a VR mobile station, in a small and remote village in Mozambique, the team of enumerators struggled to utilize the equipment. The voter registration kit, consisting of a laptop, scanner for collecting fingerprints and camera seemed to be working properly. Everything was tested, the equipment connection was fine, but when collecting biometric data, they appear blank, not only photography but also the fingerprints collected. It was as if they had photographed the image of a spirit or ghost.

The equipment was broken. Testing and further tests were made; the cables were connected and disconnected from devices more than once. The battery checked and was fine. Equipment was connected correctly. Again were collecting data from the first person, again, no biometric data. All blank.

The queue of people wanting to register increased every moment and everyone was getting impatient with the delay and incompetence of the Brigade enumerators. Probably it was a failure in training. Technicians consulted the manual point by point and found nothing. All was in accordance with the instructions.

That's when the team leader enumerators asked if anyone had asked permission from the village chief religious procedure for voter registration. Everyone looked at each other and the answer was negative. Then went to the Chief who watched the scene from far. Respectfully, the members of the brigade explained what they were doing there, the importance of voter registration and participation in the elections. 

The Chief stared, slowly looked into the eyes of each of the brigade members, as if considering whether he had heard was true and said quietly "Now, now you can do your job."

The brigade returned to the registration station installed beneath a luxuriant tree in the center of the village and resumed their activities. Initially tense, staff, disbelief, they realized that something had changed. The information was collected without problem. The quality of the photos and fingerprints were perfect. The registration process went smoothly until the end of the day, and the days that followed.

 -----

If  you read Portuguese you can download my book on Technology and Voter Registration (2012) from:

http://www.exadigital.com.br/Tecnologia_Eleitoral_ProPALOP_TL_l.pdf (9MB)

Dear Ibrahim,

The participation of potential voters in voter registration is primarily dependent on the nature of the legislative framework in place. In some countries, like my own - South Africa, it is a requirement in law that you have to apply for registration in person. This means that one cannot apply for registration as a voter by proxy or online. Once a voter is registered, he/she does not have to re-register ever again, unless he/she has moved residence or has been affected by changes in boundary delimitation. There are very valid peculiar and historically reasons why our country has adopted these measures, which are contextual to our country and I will not deal with those here. However, we have devised a number of measures aimed at maintaining and increasing our registration initiatives. Amongst others, these include:

1. The registration of voters is always open during office hours on any normal working day. This is also known as continuous registration. We have designated over 237 offices countrywide for this purpose. Most of these offices are located in public offices where citizens obtain their essential services, such as municipal rates and taxes, water and lights, etc. These offices are appropriately branded with our logo so that they cannot be missed and we promote their location and services among residents of local communities.
2. Between general elections, we conduct by-elections for ward councillors. These by-elections take place regularly (monthly) in different parts of the country, as and when vacancies arise on municipal council seats and must therefore be filled. For purposes of such by-elections, we create an opportunity for eligible citizens to come and inspect the voters' roll or register if they are nit registered. This opportunity is often well-publicised in the local community media (both print and electronic) but also in the mainstream media through nationwide media releases. This strategy has yielded the greatest numbers of registered voters compared to our continuous registration efforts. Most voters also use these opportunities to inspect their details on the voters' roll.
3. When there is a general election on the horizon, we use a multi-pronged strategy of voter information. We print and distribute pamphlets and posters in locally spoken languages, advertise registration opportunities in all forms of media, cause opinion pieces to be written about the need and importance of registration, make Commissioners and staff members of the Commission available for talk show on radio and television, open a toll-free call centre where citizens can verify their registration details and/or confirm their correct station for registration and voting, provide subsidised short messaging systems (sms) where citizens text their identity number to the EMB and instantaneously receive a response concerning their registration status and/or details. Registration initiatives that we undertake before general elections always yield the greatest return for us. Up to now, we have always considered two weekends with at least 4 weeks apart from each other and use both Saturday and Sunday for registration of new voters.
4. We also work very closely with schools to register learners who have attained registration age. In this regard, our staff in every municipal electoral office roster their schools and obtain agreement with school authorities concerning the best dates and times when these intiatives could be undertaken.
5. In instances where boundary changes have taken place without the voter physically moving house, the EMB plans and executes what is termed 'targeted communication and registration'. During targeted and communications drives, affected households are visited by clearly identifiable EMB staff members who have registration forms and pamphlets explaining why voters need to re-register. Those voters or eligible citizens that are found at home, are instantaneously re-registered and those that we do not find, we leave a pamphlet at their home informing them that we had come to re-register them and also, details of the office where they may wish to go to re-register. We do this in recognition of the fact that the voter may be displaced for reasons beyond his/her control and therefore, take a positive step to correct that situation.
6. We also work extensively with organised labour, organised business, youth and women's formations, traditional leadership and civil society organisations, amongst others, to reach eligible persons that they are in a better position to influence for purposes of registration.

We trust these brief notes provide some insights into some of the work we do. It is always important to consider one's context and very clearly, some of these may appeal to you but fall short of practical implementation considerations for your context. We wish you well as you consider your future plans for Uganda.

Regards,

Mosotho Moepya

Electoral Commission of South Africa

 

This Voter Registration Card issued by the Kasujja Commission in 2001 currently serves as a national identity and is widely accepted by, banks, visa application offices, board control authorities, hospitals, university registrations, driving license office, Revenue Authorities etc.

In a recent research in which I participated, over 65% of the respondents gave "Obtaining a quality voter card" as the second reason why they felt they should register and vote. In other wards, commissions that want to increase participation in the voter registration process should issue a quality voter card, that is nationally and internationally accepted especially where no national ID exists. The current commission of Uganda should pick from the 2001 level and issue a similar or even better card to all voters who are successfully registered.

Second, commissions should update registers in a timely manner. Most of the times, voters who were on the previous register are missed out or misplaced due to the last minute rush in processing data from the update exercise.

Third commissions should institutionalize the registration procedures that have proved effective as well as using relevant data from other  credible sources where such sources exist. Particularly, in Uganda, the Local Council System work very well.  In practice, almost all new settlers report to the village council Chairperson before they settle in an areas. The Local Village Council also issues a letter to the family in the event of death, which they take to the police to clear transportation and or burial of an individual.

This system is widely and effectively enforced not only because of the minimal fee that is paid at the council office, but because it helps villages to know their residents and to ensure effective security. 

Unfortunately, most of the local council offices do not record, the inflow of people. One;  due to lack of logistics (Just one hard cover book and a few pens) and two; due to the absence of an enabling law to effectively record this information and institutionalize the fee. Yet, this is an amendment the commission can easily pursue. The commission can also include this option in its voter registration procedures: Pay a retainer fee to local council authorities, issue them with stationary and guidelines to document persons who have settled in the areas, have left or have dies. 

Forth, Commissions should removal an ambiguities in the procedures to remove voters on the register. In Uganda for example, the voter registration panel which may or may not consist of village residents can recommend the removal of voters from the register under the code (Left Area) even when a person did not apply to be removed or reported to have left the area. In many cases, those who work away from home, are on study leave or prefer to voter from their area of origin are arbitrarily deleted.

Fifthly, Voter registration and display stations should be within easy access to all stakeholders. In Uganda, some stations are as far as 5 or more kilometers. A person must wall to the station to register, walk again to check his name, walk again to collect his/her voter card and again to vote. Many pregnant women, the sick, people leaving with disabilities and the poor are unable to meet these procedural requirements.

Last but not least, Electoral Commissions like Uganda who have biometric data processing equipment should utilize them to weed out multiple registrations. Those who deliberately register more than once are not likely to apply to be removed from the register regardless of the number of public announcements and displays.

A very interesting and effective way to encourage people to vote has been used in Cambodia:

- to organize a lottery open to all those who will vote with prizes not huge but incentives (lottery number of each people is his voter ID number!)

Hi Ibrahim. The publication Jon mentions above is available here http://www.idea.int/publications/vt_ee/loader.cfm?csmodule=security/getfile&pageid=16776. It looks at ways in which EMBs and other actors have approached this, including examples ranging from information campaigns to lotteries where voters get a chance to win money, phones and cars (!). Needless to say, there are also discussions about the integrity of elections and likely pros and cons of various campaigns.

Also, while it is true that it is in most EMBs mandate to at least facilitate participation (by ensuring that registration and voting is accessible and by giving information about when, how and where to register and vote), and often (but not always) encourage participation (by telling the electorate why it is important to register and vote) - one must always be aware of the fact that any measures aimed at specific groups (ethnic, religious, geographic language minorities, women, youth etc.) will be subject to scrutiny and criticism especially by those who will not benefit from increased participation by those groups. Making sure that the basis for targeting one or a few specific groups is well grounded in both the EMBs mandate as well as empirical evidence of low participation may be one way of minimizing allegations of bias.

La question est très importante et je voudrais apporter ma contribution sur la base des expériences que j'ai vécues.

A mon avis il y a 5 choses importantes à considérer:

    1- Le cadre légal. Il définit les documents à présenter pour se faire inscrire. Il faut s'assurer que les dit documents n'engendrent pas une exclusion administrative.

     2- Le chronogramme des opérations électorales doit être élaboré à temps et communiqué aux acteurs que sont les partis politiques et les OSC lors de réunions qui leur permettent d'échanger avec l'OGE. Il doit également être publié sur le site web et dans les journaux.

     3- Une bonne stratégie de communication doit être mise en place qui impliquer les partis politique et les OSC qui doivent recevoir toute l'information utile à l'électeur potentiel. Ces informations doivent pénétrer les populations par le biais de la presse écrite; de la télévision; des radios communautaires; des crieurs publics dans les marchés; de sketchs présentés par des comédiens communautaires; de porte à porte assurés par des personnes formées;etc.

     4- Une bonne cartographie qui réduit au maximum les distances à parcourir pour ce faire inscrire.

      5- Des rencontres périodiques avec les acteurs principaux pour apprécier l'engouement des citoyens et appliquer des stratégies adaptées pour renforcer les poches faibles.

 

Pour ce qui concerne la consultation des listes affichées on pourrait:

       1- mettre à contribution les TIC (possibilité de consultation sur téléphone portable, sur le site web)

        2- Considérer le fait que nos populations sont en grande majorité illettrées pour concevoir des listes avec photo.

         3- afficher dans les site d'inscription, ces lieux étant à proximité des personnes intéressées leur évitent les longues distances.

         4- mettre l'accent sur l'information de proximité pour inciter les gents à aller consulter les listes.

Le fichier électoral étant épine dorsale de tout processus électoral, il convient de l'élaborer avec beaucoup de soins pour aboutir à un fichier inclusif, exhaustif et exact pour des élections démocratiques et apaisées.