Be Prepared to Justify and Defend Decisions
Because the development of a periodic list of voters normally takes place over a relatively short
period of time preceding an election, or during the election campaign itself, the maintenance of
up-to-date files on all electors is far less important than with the other methods of registration,
namely, the continuous list and civil registry. Indeed, not having the requirement to store old
data, and update it regularly, is a major advantage of the periodic list.
Nonetheless, the overall integrity of a voters list can be challenged, and the election
administration officials should be prepared to defend the inclusion or exclusion from the voters
list of each elector as well as groups of persons, including accusations by political parties of
systematic bias against their supporters. At the very least, materials relating to the decision on
including or excluding voters (e.g., registration cards, forms submitted to challenge a voter's
registration or a decision of the revision court) should be stored for a suitable period of time
following the election. In addition, and equally important, the information must be stored in a
way that it is accessible. Anyone who has ever seen what a million pieces of paper requires in
terms of organization can appreciate the magnitude of this challenge. What is critically
necessary is a workable framework for filing. Most commonly this is done within an
administrative unit defined geographically.
It is also important that election authorities are able to document why a particular decision was
made. Failure to maintain adequate documentation and justification for decisions results in
non-professionalism and the appearance of capricious actions. This in turn can cast a shadow on
the integrity of the election authority as well as the legitimacy of the election itself.
Maintenance of proper records of decisions can also be help in making consistent decisions in
similar cases, though largely on an exception basis. Generally there should be clearly defined
policies for the kinds of decisions that must be made.
