Public exposure of the data contained on the voters lists, or registers, is an essential requirement for guaranteeing the right to individual suffrage, as well as the overall legitimacy of the process.
The basis of democratic, competitive elections should be a transparent voters list. In fact, one of the most consistent criticisms of the 1995 presidential elections in Peru was the lack of public exposure of the voters list. It had been compiled by a government organisation and remained virtually unknown to the political parties until the very day of the elections (see Problems with Publicising the Census in Peru).
The electoral regulations generally enumerate this feature, clearly indicating the time and under what conditions the political interests will have access to the electoral data, normally processed in such a way that a computerised copy can be obtained immediately after the elections have been announced.
But at the same time the public exposure of the register offers the assurance that it is correct and up to date as, even though modifications of data regarding age, deaths and acquirement, and loss of the right to suffrage can and must be made officially, other data, particularly address changes, can be shown more rapidly since they are provided by the citizens themselves. Also, certain types of mistakes, such as in the spelling of surnames, can only be found and corrected if advised by the voters themselves.
Public display of the lists, or unrestricted and free use of the computer systems by all citizens that wish to consult them, and the existence of universal legitimisation to promote the incorporation or elimination of persons or modification of their data is common practice.
However, due to financial, organisational and data protection considerations, citizens do not normally have the right to obtain a copy of the register, not even by paying for it.
