Identification Required to Obtain Ballot
Identifying eligible voters when they appear at the polling station presents unique problems in
most countries. The election process must be structured to ensure that only legitimately
registered individuals vote and that everyone who appears at the polls to vote are in fact who
they claim to be.
When potential voters approach the polling station on election day, they must usually identify
themselves to election officials before they receive ballots. This allows election officials to
check voters' names against the voters list and ensure that they are included. Each name is then
checked off, or stroked out, or the voter is asked to sign the register. In some cases, when there
are concerns about the possibility of voting at more than one polling station, the voters may be
required to dip one of their fingers in indelible ink to indicate that they have received a ballot.
When the Norm is to Carry Identification
The manner in which voters prove their identity varies considerably from one country or
jurisdiction to another. In countries where it is the norm for citizens to carry identification, such
as a national identity card, driver's licence, employment identification card, health care
identification card, and other such pieces of identification, then it is possible that no additional
identification materials are issued by election administration officials. This is the case in most
states in the United States. It should be noted, however, that while this is the norm in the United
States, very few registration offices actually ask for any identification. Voters simply sign the
voters list or register. And since the advent of computerized files, often there is no original
signature for comparison.
In the Survey of the Comparative Election Administration Study, reported in Choe, the
voter registration procedures in eleven countries are compared for their flexibility in issuing
ballots.14 Choe found that of the eleven countries surveyed, including Australia, Canada,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the
United States, all used some variation of postal delivery, sometimes with the option of picking it
up in person. In addition, with the exception of Korea, all provided the possibility of voting
even if the voting card was lost or not otherwise available at the polling booth. In these cases,
most accepted either an alternative identification card or simply referred to the published voters
list.
Postal delivery of voting cards also serves the dual purpose of revealing to voters the information
about them that appears on the voters list as well as voter education material. In the mail,
citizens on the voters list receive a simple card with the personal information about them as it
appears on the voters list, together with the date of the election and location of the polling
station at which they are registered. At the polling station, voters in these countries then identify
themselves by presenting the cards they received by mail, and simply stating their name and
address, or showing a piece of photo identification, such as a driver's licence.
When the Norm is Not to Carry Identification
In other jurisdictions, however, proof of identification for elections can be far more complex,
and even cumbersome, for election officials. This is particularly true where no civil registry
exists, and where it is not the norm for citizens to carry personal identification. A considerable
financial and administrative burden falls on election administrators to provide proof of
identification to all potential voters. In some cases, voters themselves must also bear some of
the costs for the production of voters cards or other identification.
Security Considerations
With the use of voter identification cards, a major consideration for effective election
administration becomes security. And foremost among security concerns is the problem of
forgery. In August 1990, security-enhanced voter identification cards, for example, were
adopted in Mexico. To prevent the forging of voters' cards, the Mexican voter's card has nine
security features, making it almost impossible to duplicate or alter. These security features
include a bar code, hologram, photograph and molecular fusion.15
Another concern is security of storage and distribution. This was an issue in the Haitian
elections of June 1995. The electoral commission announced that in a country in which 4.2
million voter registration cards were produced, one million were missing. This number,
however, although widely cited, ultimately was not confirmed.16
A third potential problem with voter registration cards is the need to have sufficient capacity to
issue the cards to the entire population. This was a concern in the El Salvador elections of 1994,
and was a serious problem with the cedulacion process in Nicaragua throughout the
1990s. The process of registering voters, and issuing voter identity cards, is also seriously
complicated in areas engaged in armed conflict, as has been the experience in Nicaragua,
Angola and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The impact of imposing costs of producing voter cards on voters should not be underestimated.
The following description of the situation in Senegal preceding the election of 1993 is
illustrative of how even relatively minor costs may prove prohibitive for many potential voters,
thereby compromising the inclusion of voters in the electoral process.
The Case in Ghana
The problems in the use of voter identification cards, however, are not insurmountable. And the
solutions need not always be as expensive as the Mexican one. In Ghana, for example, the
problem of forgery was solved by including the voters cards on the voter registration forms
themselves. The card itself is a tear-off portion at the bottom of the registration form and
contains the same pre-printed voter registration number as the form itself. It would be virtually
impossible, therefore, to produce forged cards or steal blank cards since the name and
identification number must appear on both the card and the voters list before anyone is allowed
to vote. Simply presenting the voter card at the polls is not enough. In addition, the cards are
issued, for the most part, at the time of registration using a cold lamination process rather than
one that requires electricity. The adhesive used in the lamination is such that the card would be
damaged by attempts to remove the laminate. Accurate records are also used to identify which
forms were issued to which polling stations. And fingerprinting, both on the registration card
and the detachable registration form, is an additional security measure implemented in
Ghana.17
The Senegalese Case
Although voter identification cards have become an important part of the voter registration
process in many parts of the world, it is especially important to ensure that voters are not
administratively disenfranchised due to the prohibitive costs associated with acquiring a voter
identity card. The attached description of the case in Senegal in preparation for the 1993
elections is a good example (see Senegal - Analysis of Electoral Code). In this instance, although the government did not
charge a fee for national identity cards, in fact the real cost to many voters, including costs for
mandatory photographs, official stamps and foregone wages, was prohibitively high. The
predictable result was the administrative disenfranchisement of otherwise eligible voters.
Documentation for Women with Children in Malawi
In Malawi, although the legal voting age is twenty-one years, women under the age of twenty-one who have children are often allowed to register to vote by producing their 'mother's card'.
This card is an identity document issued by relief agencies to mothers for the provision of food
and health supplies. In Malawi, young women who have borne children are regarded as adults
notwithstanding their biological age.18
