Ensure all citizens receive a national registration card and/or other forms allowable to qualify for a voter registration card and implement procedures for continuous and mobile voter registration

Develop an adequate and comprehensive voters list

Ahead of the next formal update of the voter register, the SCER should implement an open and cross-party review of the voter register to identify ineligible names using published and consistent criteria. Persons identified by the review as being wrongfully included should be informed and provided with the opportunity to prove their eligibility. The SCER should remove all ineligible names using methods prescribed by law.

While an eventual goal of the government could be the introduction of an effective civil register from which the voter register can be extracted, voter registration in the meantime should be conducted on a continuous basis.

Mobile voter registration units should be used to reach voters who are unable to reach stationary locations. Special provision could also be introduced to register the homebound, hospitalised and, possibly, voters living abroad.

The voter registration process should be carried out exclusively by the CNE and the CREs. This would serve to reinforce the independence and neutrality of the election process, and would also have advantages in terms of cost efficiency. Should this measure be adopted, CREs would need to be provided with increased capacity to enable them to update the voter register on a regular basis.

A vast number of Lebanese citizens in the diaspora are still registered in Lebanon. This leads to uncertainties about the actual numbers of voters. This question should be carefully studied in order to find an adequate and balance solution taking into acount that some countries allow out-of-country voting for their citizens living abroad.

Before the next general elections, a civil register should be established through the conduct of a national census. The census will be necessary for the issuing of
national identification cards and together with the established FRR of 2005 will form the basis from which a new voter registration roll can be created and updated

In future elections, refugees residing outside the country should be provided with the possibility of registering to vote. IDPs who opt to repatriate to their counties of
origin should be assisted by national and international authorities to repatriate in advance of an election

When national identity cards have been issued to all citizens, the law should be amended so that all voters are required to produce their card in order to cast their ballot.

The fundamental deficiencies in the voter registration system should be addressed as a matter of urgency. This can be implemented by either using census data (1) or developing the active system of registration currently in use. (1) Introducing a passive system of registration based on census data: the data is in electronic form and is currently collected every 10 years. To provide an adequate basis for a voter list, the census would need to be rolling or updated every year. (2) If the system of an on-going active registration is maintained, rather than creating an entirely new register each year, the one from the previous year should be used as a basis from which adjustments (additions/deletions) are made.

Registration should be systematised to reduce the potential for the work of enumerators to go un-checked. This requires development of training, accountability and monitoring of the work of Grama Niladahri, Special Enumerators or others tasked to do the ground-level data collection. Furthermore public consciousness should be raised about the importance of keeping a registration receipt (as proof of registration) and of the checking of entries during the display period.

There must be a full and inclusive registration of Palestinian voters in Jerusalem, with clear information provided as to where they will vote on election day.

Voters’ register: o The procedure for updating the voters’ register should be amended in order to include young and first time voters as soon as they become eligible.
o A complete computerization of the voters’ register would considerably increase its quality, thus allowing the deletion of duplicate registrations and making the
updating process easier.
o A reliable registration of voters in the LTTE controlled areas in the North and in Jaffna should be conducted.

Immediate steps should be taken to implement a permanent and centralised voter register. The maintenance of the voter register should not be devolved to the provincial
KPU, but remain under the control of the central KPU.

Préciser sur les cartes électorales le bureau de vote dont relève chaque électeur et publier bien à l’avance la liste et les adresses des bureaux de vote

The voting register requires further improvement and updating. It was further observed during polling day that polling staff experienced difficulties finding voters names on the register particularly when the voter did not carry the slip given to them by political parties. This resulted in long queues at busy polling stations. As the register is now computerised, names should be listed in a uniform way to facilitate staff in finding the respective names of voters.

Despite the introduction of a joint electorate, the Ahmadis (alia, Qadianis or Lahori group) were transferred to a separate list for no comprehensible reason, whilst all the
other non-Muslims were included on the joint list. It is recommended that the Ahmadis be included in the joint voters’ list.

Issuing a photo ID card to each elector would improve voter identification, enhance the accuracy of the whole process and diminish instances of fraudulent voting and misuse of the voter register.

The main problem with the voter lists is that they are not properly updated. (….) While there are no quick-fix solutions to the problem of updating the voter rolls, improving the way in which death certificates are produced at the municipality level and then transmitted to the electoral administration seems of the utmost importance in Nicaragua. Since the CSE at the same time administers the general civil register, voter register reforms would need to take into account the inadequate connections between different branches of the register system in different parts of the country.

The design of the support provided to the DNR was not fully consistent with the objective stated. No previous analysis and assessment of the registration system was conducted (efficiency of the system, planning of activities, management skills, training of staff, public awareness).

In general terms, the management capacity of the DNR has to be improved. The department would need this assistance to identify the real needs, to plan its activities, to decide about the specifications of the items to be supplied, to participate in the procurement process and in the drafting of the tender documents. A better co-operation between ECZ and DNR has to be promoted, in order, beyond that co-operation, to achieve a possible integration of the national registration with the voter registration system. For instance, sharing computer resources should be considered

The issue of voter identity should be addressed. This was a frequent cause of complaint and friction.