Registration as a Prerequisite to Free and Fair Elections
The right of all adult citizens to participate in the affairs of their government is one of the
cornerstones of democracy. Perhaps the most fundamental form of participation is the right to
vote in free and fair elections. The ability to exercise the democratic right to vote is premised on
the existence of a comprehensive and inclusive electoral register (or voters list), which is
rigorously maintained to ensure, as much as possible, that each eligible citizen is registered to
vote once and only once. The delicate balance implicit in preparing election registers has been
characterized succinctly by the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission of
Queensland, Australia:
Electoral rolls are a fundamental component of any voting
system. Rolls constitute the official list of electors and are prima facie evidence of
electors' right to vote. Enrolment procedures therefore need to strike the right balance between
the need to be rigorous to ensure integrity of the rolls, and the need for flexibility to ensure that
peoples' rights to enroll and vote are protected.1
High Cost of Voter Registration
While voter registration is a central component of election administration, it is also one of the
more costly. The process of registering voters and producing voters lists often accounts for
more than fifty percent of the overall cost for administering elections.2 Various factors
affect these costs, of course, including the type of system used to register voters, the
administrative capabilities of the election authority, and the social, economic, and demographic
characteristics of the country.
Voter Registration: General Principles
Two important principles underlie effective voter registration. The first is that the system
chosen for voter registration should facilitate the inclusion of all eligible voters in the electoral
register, or voters list. Democratic governance requires the existence of free and fair elections
conducted amongst a broadly enfranchised electorate. In order to realize this precept, then, all
(or substantially all) eligible electors should be included in the voters list. Their inclusion
affirms their right to vote in the election. The second key principle of voter registration is the
obvious corollary of the first, namely, that it should prevent the exclusion of eligible citizens
from the voters list.
Legal and Administrative Exclusion
There are two ways in which voters may be excluded from a voters list--either through legal
exclusion or administrative exclusion. During the modern reincarnation of representative
democracies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were many grounds on which
people were legally excluded from registering and voting, including such conditions as property
ownership, wealth, literacy, race, gender and 'moral fitness'.3 Over the years, all of
these legal exclusions diminished in democratic practice, and today most are no longer viewed
as legitimate. Legal exclusions that persist today in many states, however, include age
(normally eighteen years and older, although somewhat higher in some cases), citizenship,
residency, conviction for criminal offence and mental incompetence.4 Such exclusions
are usually mandated by political leaders in constitutional or electoral law rather than by
administrative officials.
Administrative exclusion occurs when people who are ostensibly eligible to vote are not entitled
to vote because they have been left off the voters list. They may be excluded, for example,
simply by their own choice or personal habits. A potential voter may have little or no
interest in politics or the election. A change of address or even a voter's name may result in
error or lack of registration. Exclusion may also occur due to limitations of the system of
voter registration, such as a poorly publicized deadline for completing the registration process.
In keeping with the objective to prevent, or at least minimize, the exclusion of eligible voters,
however, the registration system should maintain a priority to register all eligible voters.
Although in practice it will not be possible to register all eligible voters, adhering to this
goal will encourage the identification of very clear performance criteria (see Identification for Registration Purposes) against
which success in achieving universal registration can be measured.
The Complexity of Voter Registration
Notwithstanding the overarching importance of voter registration to the democratic electoral
process, electoral administrators often face myriad decisions in responding to parochial
issues of their country, state or region:
- Should a voters list be created de novo at each election, or is it better to maintain
an ongoing, continuous list?
- How do eligible voters identify themselves as such at the polling station -- do they use a
voter identity card, or some other means?
- If a voter identity card is used, what information must be on the card?
- Should registration be compulsory or voluntary?
- If registration is voluntary should it be at the initiative of the citizen or the state?
- What impact do local conditions, such as literacy rates, urbanization, population mobility,
relative affluence, and history with democracy have on the type of voter registration system that
is most feasible?
- What role does computerization play in the voter registration process -- what aspects of
voter registration are best handled by computerization?
The answers to these and similar questions will play an important role in determining the kind of
voter registration system that best responds to the principles of facilitating inclusion and
minimizing exclusion in a particular political context.
Alternative Methods of Voter Registration
Simply raising these questions provides some indication of the diverse ways in which
democracy generally, and voter registration in particular, has been implemented across the
diverse economies and cultures in which the democratic impulse has found root. The two
questions that give substance to the principles of democratic election administration are:
- Which alternative is most responsive to the variety of local conditions in which it must
exist?
- Which alternative is realistic and affordable in the context of the financial and
administrative environment in which it must be developed and sustained?
There are three basic options available for the development and maintenance of a voters list:
- the periodic list
- the continuous register, or list
- the civil registry
Choosing to design a voter registration system on the basis of one of these options, or some
combination of them, is a primary concern for the election authority.
This section on voter registration compares and contrasts the major alternatives for the various
elements of voter registration. On the one hand, it suggests a broad array of choices over the
general parameters of voter registration. But in many instances, a more narrow range of
practical alternatives is outlined to accommodate local traditions and other unique conditions.
Also highlighted are a number of cases in which election administrations have been especially
successful in making decisions that respond positively to the local environment.
