Care Taken in Compiling Registration Data
Since voter registration is largely a process of gathering, verifying and organizing information
for the production of a list of electors, compiling the registration information is among the key
tasks of the exercise.
With the periodic list, this normally involves determining well in advance the precise
information that is required from voters, and then developing forms or other mechanisms for
gathering of this data. Such requirements are usually specified in legislation or in regulations
that have previously been implemented.
The information normally includes the voter's name, address, citizenship status, date of birth and
gender. It may also include such identification as the voter's photograph or fingerprints.
Generally, election administrators attempt to collect information that is deemed essential for the
positive identification of the voter and necessary to verify the voters list. It may be necessary to
balance the need for voter identification information with the protection of privacy for
individual electors.
In addition, election officials may want to avoid being placed in a position to collect other
information not related to the election process, since this might discourage people from giving
their names for voter registration purposes.
Enumeration
In most jurisdictions, enumerators carry blank record forms which they complete in the course of
their door-to-door canvass. They may leave a copy of this record as a receipt for the elector as
confirmation of registration. In some instances, the enumerator may carry forms which are
pre-printed with the names and address of the voters registered at each address at the time of the
previous enumeration. This would be somewhat of a hybrid, however, of the periodic list and
the continuous registry. These forms are completed by the enumerator and turned in to the
registration office on a regular basis so that the information may be processed either manually or
electronically. The enumerator may also carry a control sheet which identifies the disposition of
the registration process at each residence listed. This will facilitate return visits to complete the
process for those unavailable at the time of the initial visit.
In some instances, the addresses are listed in advance on the control sheet. However, this is a
rather sophisticated implementation, however, and normally is not used because of the expense
involved with pre-defining an inventory of legitimate residential addresses within each
administrative unit. This may be difficult to establish in remote areas, for instance, where the
population is traditionally nomadic or where there are large numbers of refugees.
Registration Centres
At a registration centre, the voter registration forms would normally be completed either by
voters themselves or by registration clerks. Literacy rates will have a bearing on the procedure
adopted. Where voter registration cards are being used, they also should be available at
registration centres so they may be distributed during the initial visit by the voter to the centre.
This latter option, although desirable in principle, may not be practical when high levels of
security are required. With such a system there it may be easier for a voter to register at a
number of different registration centres and obtain more than one identity card, even though this
would constitute a fraudulent electoral practice.
Registration by Mail
Although registration by mail is usually less expensive than either enumeration or registration
centres, the most significant challenge of this procedure is to ensure that all eligible electors
have at their disposal a voter registration form. The least expensive method of voter registration
would be to register all voters on election day. But this usually results in long lines and waiting
time for voters.
In Haiti, voter registration officials complete the voter information on a carbon set, and one
copy is provided to the registrant. Enumerators in Ontario carry carbon set forms and are
required to leave one copy as a receipt of enumeration with each elector enrolled.
