Examples of Voter Identification Cards
Voter identification cards can range from relatively simple to highly complex cards with a variety
of security mechanisms. Examples of various voter identification cards can be found in
Venezuela - Voter ID Card, Tennessee, USA - Voter ID Card, Uruguay - Voter ID Card, Uganda - Voter ID Card, and Nicaragua - Voter ID Card.
Advantages of voter identification cards include the following:
- reliable form of identification
- acknowledgment that voter is duly registered
- may include several identifying features, such as photograph, signature, fingerprints, etc., to
provide greater assurance voter is who he/she purports to be
- may be marked when voter has obtained ballot, and thereby prevent multiple voting
- can be designed in response to low literacy rates
- can be an effective form of identification where many voters have no fixed address
- facilitates voting in areas where voter may not be known personally
- can be issued along with material in a voter education campaign
In addition to these concrete advantages, there may be other, more symbolic, reasons for favouring
voter ID cards. For example, in a study of photo ID cards in Bangladesh, the cards were said to
convey to voters a feeling of 'pride symbolizing for the first time the ownership of their own vote.'54
Disadvantages of voter identification cards include the following:
- Cards can be very costly to produce, though cost varies significantly. In Mexico in the early
1990s, the cost was very high, with many security features (see Juan Manuel Herrero Alvarez, Mexico: The Electoral Register ), whereas in Ghana,
the costs were kept under tighter limits (see Joe Baxter, Voter Registration in Ghana and Electoral Commission of Ghana - Voter Registration ID Card Program Budget). In Malawi in February
1998, the cost of producing photo ID cards for the 4.5 million registrations was estimated at U.S.
$1.1 million, assuming a camera was required at each registration centre for the thirty days of
registration. If the number of cameras could be reduced by shortening the registration period, the
cost could be reduced to an estimated U.S. $150,000.55
- The high costs must be borne either by the government or the voter, or both. If cost deferred
to the voter, this will inevitably decrease the percentage of eligible voters who obtain an
identification card.
- The card can be lost or stolen.
- A significant administrative structure must be in place to produce the cards.
- Cards must be produced with technology appropriate to the setting in which they are issued
and used. When electricity is not available at the registration and card-issuing sites, a cold laminate
can be used to seal the cards, or if necessary, no laminate at all.
- Some voters will arrive at the voting station without their card. Procedures must be developed
to respond to this situation.
- Cards must be updated periodically. Cards will wear out over time and the pictures on them
will become dated. Thus, there is a need for a system of regular replacement.
- The election authority must have a reliable system of delivery of ID cards. Cameroon
experienced considerable difficulties with poor distribution of ID cards in 1997, effectively
excluding those citizens from voting.56
