Basic Issues
Ensuring the accuracy of voters lists used in voting stations is extremely important for the integrity of the voting process. Rigorous checking that each voters list accurately reflects the relevant portion of the voters register must be undertaken, and that any errors found are immediately corrected--preferably by revising and reprinting the affected lists--before the lists are distributed to voting stations.
As voters lists are likely to be the most used single item of material during voting hours, it is important that they are a quality product. Information in them needs to be clearly presented, and their material construction needs to be durable.
Quantity Produced
Voters lists are a highly accountable item. They should be maintained under security while awaiting distribution to voting stations and on their return following close of voting. They would normally only be produced in the exact quantity needed for voting station use. This would generally be one copy of each unique voters list. In systems where voters may have a choice of voting stations to attend within an electoral district or subdivision, however, multiple copies of the relevant lists will be required.
Voters lists or full voters registers for electoral districts would normally also be printed for public information purposes. It is important that their design is clearly distinguishable from that used for the voters lists to be used in voting stations. In estimating quantities of these documents required, any legal or policy requirements for their distribution to political participants and the public need to be considered.
Timing of Production
When voting station voters lists can be produced will be a function of the legal deadline for additions, deletions, or amendments to be made to the voters register. In setting the deadline, a balance has to be achieved between:
- accuracy of the voters lists in ensuring that recently deceased voters can be removed and other allowable changes can be made;
- time required for printing and distribution of voters lists to all voting stations.
The latter will depend on factors such as the basis of the register--whether it is compiled at a voting station level or at a higher level that then has to be broken down into voting station lists; printing capacities; and distances the lists have to be transported to voting stations.
Location of production--whether centralised, regionalised, or distributed to local areas--will depend very much on the processing structure of the voter registration system.
(For further discussion of production of final voters lists, see Closing Date for Registration, List Revisions for Early Voters, Closing Date for Registration, List Revisions for Early Voters, and Election Period Updates.)
Certification
It is important that a legally-designated electoral management body or other official certify that each voters list used in a voting station is a true copy of the relevant portion of the voters register. (In some systems the integrity of this process is protected by requiring this function to be undertaken by a member of the judiciary or a member of a revision court convened to review the register.)
It is important that this task is taken seriously; the act of certification is a legal assurance that the voters list accurately reflects the voters register. Checking for faults such as missing pages, poor print, and omitted names must be thorough before the list is certified. In automated registration systems, the most tedious check, that no names have been inadvertently dropped from or added to the list, may be done by computer.
Design
The formats of voters lists are almost as numerous as the formats of ballot papers, depending on the voter registration systems, voter identification, and post-voting day list processing methods used. Information required in the list would usually and properly be defined in electoral legislation. Voters lists formats would include:
- A handwritten or typed listing of electors eligible to vote at a voting station. This can be the most appropriate method where voter numbers are small, and computer technology unavailable, or software for constructing voting station voters lists is untested or unreliable.
- An index of the original voter registration cards for all voters eligible to vote at the relevant voting station, with polling officials recording separately the names of those who vote in a handwritten list. This format would often be combined with a requirement that all voters at the voting station complete an application to vote. This can be economical, and of good integrity, since the voter's signature will appear on the registration card and the voting application. This method can be suitable for low technology environments (though it is also used in a number of jurisdictions in the United States). However, there is a risk of the loss of or damage to the original registration cards, and voter service efficiency may suffer using this method.
- Printed lists of voters eligible to vote at that voting station generated from computerised data. The lists could be generated either from locally held records or from a national voter or civil registration database, depending on the structure of the voter registration system.
- Optical character readable lists, as are used in Australia, formatted for post voting day scanning for integrity control and election data purposes.
- Lists containing a photograph of each eligible voter for the voting station as well as textual information, as are used in Costa Rica. (In Costa Rican voters lists, each voter's entry is also bar coded to aid information processing.) In this format, the voters list becomes a prime voter identity checking tool, as well as the method of checking the voter's eligibility to vote at that voting station.
What is a cost-effective format will also vary. More sophisticated list designs may bring added information and integrity benefits which make them cost-effective in spite of higher basic costs. What is important is that the method adopted is appropriate for the technical expertise available. To attempt to produce complex computer-generated voters lists for each voting station, for example, without highly accurate, fully-tested computerised geographic information systems, or local systems support, would be foolhardy.
Basic Design Requirements
The three major considerations in the design of voters lists are (1) the inclusion of all information required by election legislation, (2) user-friendliness for polling officials, and (3) cost-effectiveness in printing. Allowing for the wide variety of potential designs for voters lists, where these are a printed volume, some basic design specifications can serve as guidelines:
- Each page should contain the election title and date, electoral district name, sub-district or polling subdivision name, voting station identification code and/or name, and consecutive page number.
- Paper size should be at a minimum of A4 and the colour white.
- Paper weight should be at a minimum of 70-80 gsm--lighter weight papers, including tractor-fed computer paper, may not withstand long hours of use in the voting station.
- Suitable binding, such as lockable ring binders, make ruling through of names easier, but there is a risk of losing or missing pages, so an alternative would be spiral binding, though this may be more costly. Binding specifications must ensure the voters list opens flat, without splitting.
- The names of voters should be shown in strict alphabetical order, in most societies in order of family name.
- Typefaces used should be of a point size and font that is easy to read quickly. Ten-point type would generally be the minimum acceptable size, and it may be prudent to use a larger size, such as twelve or fourteen. Proprietary fonts developed specifically for telephone number directories are often a good starting point for investigating suitable fonts. Point size and font used can be an important consideration for printing costs. If clear, smaller typeface sizes can be used, paper usage and printing time may be reduced.
- Single-sided printing of the list would be preferable. However, where the list contains a large number of names, double-sided print may be necessary for economy and volume reasons. In such cases it is important that paper is used that is of sufficient weight to prevent polling officials' markings from bleeding through to the reverse side of the paper.
- Names should be spaced sufficiently for them to be marked clearly when the voter is issued a ballot, without obscuring any adjacent names.
- Information shown should include the voter's full name, as it appears on the voter register (family name generally first), full address of registration, and serial number or identification number on the full voters register or a link number to this serial number. Long names and addresses may need to be line-wrapped, or standard contraction rules devised.
Special Voting Facilities
Where special voting facilities are available (such as absentee, early, or mail vote--see Absentee Voting, Voting in a Foreign Country and Early Voting), methods of ensuring that voters cannot claim both a special vote and a normal vote at their voting station will be required. Some alternatives in various voting frameworks would include:
- Marking voters who have cast a special vote on the relevant voting station voters list before it is despatched to the voting station. The practicality of this will depend on the cut-off date for special voting in relation to the despatch date for voting station materials.
- Constructing a special voters list or lists for all voters applying for special votes, and removing them from their normal voters list. This will also depend on a cut-off date for applications for special votes before the despatch of voting station material. Time frame conflicts also have to be avoided with this method, and strict production quality controls are required.
- Using enveloped ballots for special voting, with voter details contained on the envelope being checked against the relevant voting station voters list--to safeguard against impersonation and multiple voting--before the envelope is opened and the ballot accepted for counting.
