Usually, whenever data is being used for a report or an output product such as a printed voter register, it needs to be sorted according to a logical criteria. Some ways of arranging data include sorting by:
- Surname (alphabetically, with a sub-sort on given names, to facilitate finding names on lists)
- Registration number (where that has a logical use, such as where the registration number is used to identify a voter)
- Electoral district (usually as a preliminary sort before sorting according to a further criteria, such as surname)
- Street number, street name and/or locality (for use in door-to-door canvasses, for example)
- Polling division/voting station (for use during polling)
- Criteria requested by political players (where they have a right to obtain data)
- Data requested for non-electoral purposes (where other agencies have rights to obtain data, such as jury lists supplied to courts, sorted by jury district)
Consideration for likely sorting needs should be taken into account when the voter register database is designed. Some database programs provide for 'indexing' of certain fields that might be used for sorting or searching. Indexing fields helps to speed up database performance by recording sort information as the data is stored, thereby reducing the processing time involved when a sort or search is requested.
It may be desirable to include special 'sort' fields in a database table. For example, there are various conventions associated with sorting surnames in some cultures. For example, the Scottish 'Mac' and 'Mc' prefixes are often printed in a sorted list as if they all started with 'Mac' to assist users to find names when they are unsure of the spelling. (Therefore, using a special sort field, the following names would be listed as McPhail, Macphee, McPherson, Macphillamy, whereas without a special sort field, a program would automatically sort these names as Macphee, Macphillamy, McPhail, McPherson.)
