An election can be affected by discrimination, intimidation and fraud.
Discrimination can result in eligible voters not being able to vote. Intimidation can affect voting
behaviour and fraud can affect the outcome of the vote.
Measures must be taken to ensure that
these problems are not systemic, that they are addressed immediately, and that they do not affect
the outcome of the election (see Integrity Measures to Protect Against Fraud). Because of the secrecy of the vote, a tainted vote is impossible to
invalidate once it is cast. And each tainted vote cancels out a valid vote, hurting the integrity of
the process.
Problems can be on an individual level, involving small scale intimidation or corruption. This
usually affects individuals and the way they vote, but does not change the outcome of the election.
Problems can also be widespread and systemic which can affect the process to the point where the
final results do not reflect the will of the voters. Both types of problems must be addressed,
although systemic problems that raise questions about the validity of the results must be assessed
immediately to determine whether the problem was so severe that the elections must be reheld.
Discrimination
Discrimination, aimed at preventing certain groups of voters from being able to vote, is not a
problem confined to any one system or locality. It can done systematically through bureaucratic
obstacles to voting, such as poll taxes, or through individuals refusing certain voters to access the
polling sites.
Bureaucratic obstacles can make it difficult for certain segments of the population to register or to
vote. These can include:
- Taxation. Poll taxes have been used in a number of systems as a mechanism to exclude
certain segments of the population from voting. For example, in several southern U.S. states, poll taxes
were required as a prerequisite to voting. Poor African Americans and whites who were
unable to pay the poll tax were unable to vote. This discriminatory practice was only
overcome through using the checks and balance mechanisms: the U.S. Constitution was
amended in 1964 to bar this practice in federal elections, and the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in 1966 that the 'equal protection' clause of Constitution prohibited this practice in
state and local elections.
- Lack of polling materials at certain polling stations. Voting can be stopped or slowed at
certain polling stations if not enough materials have been delivered. Every polling site
should have an adequate number of ballots and other necessary materials, such as pencils or
voting machines, so that all voters will be able to mark their ballots.
Voters can also be denied entry into polling stations by polling staff, monitors or other persons
hanging around outside the polling station. These actions are illegal in all systems. In the case of the U.S.,
racial discrimination in voting was addressed by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This Act was
passed at a time when discrimination in some parts of the southern U.S. prevented African American voters from voting. To combat this problem, the Act included some extraordinary
remedies which were applicable to the problem areas for a limited time. These included:
- authorizing the U.S. Attorney General to send federal registrars to register voters in
counties where the local registrars refused to register African Americans;
- authorizing the U.S. Attorney General to send federal observers to monitor the elections
to make sure that African Americans who were eligible to vote were actually permitted to
vote and that their votes were actually counted; and
- required the voting jurisdictions covered by the Act to gain the approval of the U.S.
Attorney General before implementing any new voting practices or procedures to make
sure changes were not racially discriminatory.
These provisions were originally scheduled to expire in 1970 but have been renewed several times and
are now scheduled to end in 2007. 203
Intimidation
Intimidation can take many forms, and can be subtle or involve brute force. But the purpose of
intimidation is usually to intimidate voters into voting for or against a certain person, party or
position.
Intimidation tactics can include:
- pressuring voters before voting, such as threatening bodily harm, loss of employment or
educational opportunities, and other physical or economic threats;
- pressuring voters to attend, or not attend, political meetings, rallies, marches,
demonstrations or other events;
- pressuring non-registered or non-eligible persons into voting or impersonating another
voter, or pressuring eligible voters to vote multiple times;
- pressuring voters into taking an oath that they will support a certain candidate. Oathing
has been used in places such as Cambodia, where domestic observers noted voters were
forced to drink a glass of water with a bullet in it, swearing they would vote for candidates
from a certain party.
- pressuring voters during voting, such as having a party enforcer in
sight when voters enter the polling station, or having party activists hover around voters in
line. It can be verbal threats or the use of gestures to those going in and out to
vote. It can include physically disrupting the order within a polling station or in the
general area of the station. And, it can be as subtle as having a poll worker wearing the
badge or emblem of a particular candidate or party.
- assisting voters to vote who don't want or need assistance.
- locating polling sites in a location owned by a candidate, political party or government
official.
- preventing voters from being able to access a polling site, an electoral office, or to see an
accredited political party monitor or domestic/international observer.
- pressuring a polling official or interfering with the independence or impartiality of electoral
employees
Intimidation can be done by anyone - a candidate, a political party monitor, another voter, an
election manager or a government official. Most electoral laws make intimidation illegal.
However, the subtle forms of intimidation can be hard to prove.
In the case of Mexico, its electoral law makes it illegal for any administrator or party official to exert pressure
on voters on election day inside polling stations or where voters are standing in line. It is also
illegal for them to carry out any type of electoral propaganda when fulfilling their duties or for anyone to obstruct voting or exert a physical or moral force on the electoral
officials. Spreading false information about the development of the election and its outcome is
also illegal. 204
Fraud
Fraud during voting, can be found at the voters' level when ineligible persons vote or eligible
voters vote more than once. It can also be found at the administrative levels where those with
access to sensitive electoral materials or sites can stuff ballot boxes with premarked ballot, vote
for no-show voters or change the results of the count on the reporting sheets.
At the voting level, possibilities for fraud include:
- impersonating another voter at the polls or in casting an absentee ballot;
- voting with a pre-marked ballot;
- multiple voting by individual voters;
- voting when not eligible;
- asking for money to vote for a particular candidate or party, or for money not to vote; and
- paying someone to vote or not to vote.
On the administrative side, possibilities for fraud include:
- allowing ineligible voters to vote;
- changing or destroying voter registration records or lists;
- preventing qualified voters from voting;
- allowing voters to vote more than once;
- substituting their own votes for votes legitimately cast, or voting for voters who didn't go
to the polls;
- not voting for the candidate requested by voters they assist in voting. This has been a
problem in countries such as Kenya, where 15-25% of the population is illiterate.205
- stuffing ballot boxes with pre-marked or spoiled ballots or allowing the ballot boxes to be
stuffed;
- losing or destroying ballots that were validly cast;
- not accurately counting the ballots or putting incorrect information onto the tally sheets;
and
- changing the election results or announcing a false set of results.
