Use of the Voters List by Parties and Candidates
The voters list serves the election administration authority by providing definitive statements of
eligibility for each elector. It also serves political parties and candidates by providing them with
the names and contact information (normally addresses) of all electors who are eligible to cast a
ballot for them during the upcoming election. Political parties and candidates normally are
involved in significant canvassing efforts to identify which voters support them and to distribute
campaign literature to all potential electors.
Canvassing Activities by Parties and Candidates
Parties and candidates also use canvassing for several other purposes. Canvassing provides them
with an opportunity to solicit volunteer help or financial support for their election campaign.
This is one reason that voters' mailing addresses are also obtained at the time of registration.
Frequently the residential address is the same as the mailing address, but often it is not. This is
especially the case in rural areas. Voters are sometimes asked during the canvass whether they
are willing to have a campaign sign placed on or near their home, or to work to convince their
neighbours and friends to support the candidate or party.
Modern canvassing techniques are used by candidates and parties to identify the likelihood that
each voter will support them during the election. Voters could be identified as very likely
supporters, possible supporters or very unlikely supporters, and the candidate's campaign
strategy may differ for each inclination. Committed supporters, for example, are often nurtured
with reinforcing information. In contrast, the campaign strategy for possible supporters may be
much more aggressive, including, where possible, personal visits from the candidate. Voters
who are unlikely to support a candidate may be ignored altogether, in the hope that little contact
will make them less interested in the election and possibly less likely to participate. Parties and
candidates also use the information on voters' likelihood to support them to offer assistance,
including rides to the polls, for the voters who are identified as likely supporters.
Campaign Organization
Campaigns in many democratic countries combine both centralized and decentralized dynamics,
and they may have significant national as well as local impact. National campaigns, often
launched through major media outlets of radio, television and newspapers, are quite independent
of the parties or candidates having access to complete voters lists. For the local campaigns,
however, which often feature door-to door canvassing as a key element, the voters lists play an
important role. This often helps ensure that parties and candidates are active and, in many
instances, welcome contributors in creating the environment necessary for the successful
production of a final voters list. The role of political parties in the review and revision of the list
is a sensitive and complex issue of election administration. Electoral administrators need to
walk a fine line between making use of the 'free' information parties can provide and being
cautious about using partisan personnel as 'agents' of registration.
The timing for the production of a voters list is a significant factor for many political parties. It
is very useful to parties and candidates to receive a final voters list prior to the beginning of the
campaign period. There is, therefore, an incentive for the voter registration process to be
completed prior to the registration of candidates and the beginning of the campaign.
