Different Procedures Required
There is often a need to have different procedures in place for registering resident and
non-resident voters. Of course, resident voters may be registered with the standard procedure
already in use.
The procedures for registering non-resident voters, however, may vary depending on the reasons
for non-residency. In general, residency is a basic requirement for voting. Some citizens,
however, may retain voting eligibility while they are abroad. These may include the following:
Military Personnel
Members of the armed forces temporarily stationed abroad normally retain their voting
eligibility. In some instances, they may be registered in the district in which they are permanent
residents. In other cases, there may be a separate poll for military personnel. The location for
armed forces personnel to register and vote is often controversial in newer democracies. A key
principle underlying registration of military personnel, of course, is that elections be conducted
in a way that is free from abuse.
Appropriate steps, such as the non-clustering of voting for military personnel, can be taken to
support this principle. If military voters are grouped into one polling area, and there is little
difference of opinion within that group, for example, then these voters might be perceived as
voting a certain way or for a certain political interest, thereby jeopardizing the secrecy of their
vote.
Temporarily Traveling Abroad
At any given time, a number of nationals may be travelling abroad for short periods of time.
In this case, they may still be allowed to register. In some countries, registration while abroad
may be limited to prescribed reasons, such as studying abroad or traveling for business purposes.
Being on vacation may not be accepted as a valid reason. During periods of voter registration or
voting, procedures designed to accommodate those out of the country may include advance
registration or registration by mail.
Historically there have not been many provisions for citizens residing abroad to vote, aside from
military or other specially designated personnel, such as those stationed in embassies abroad.
But this is changing. In the last Canadian federal general election, for example, Canadian
electors who were outside the country were allowed to apply for registration and vote by a
special ballot. Although such provisions may be expensive to administer, democratic trends
support this as a right of citizenship. In the Canadian Province of Ontario, electors absent for
certain prescribed reasons may apply to have another elector vote on their behalf by proxy. In
Quebec, a register of electors who are away from Quebec is maintained by the Chief Electoral
Officer, and these electors may apply to vote, using a special form of the ballot.
Absentee Registration and Voting
An interesting case study was the establishment of voting provisions for absentee voters in the
Bosnian election. Contact, a publication of Elections Canada, outlines the process used
in Bosnia. This election represented the first time that Elections Canada itself administered
election procedures in Canada on behalf of another country. The Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which was supervising the electoral process in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, asked Elections Canada through the Canadian government to administer
registration and absentee voting by Bosnian refugees living in Canada. Bosnian electors could
then vote if they met strict identification guidelines. Applying these rules was at times a
challenge, especially for Bosnians who had lost their identification documents or whose
documents had been destroyed.
Voter registration for the Bosnian election was done by telephone. Electors supplied details of
their identity and were then sent a computer-generated registration form to sign, which they had
to return together with photocopies of their documentation, provided they possessed such
documentation. An appeal process to OSCE was available for those whose applications were
rejected.58
