A Costly Endeavour
The production of a voters list and, if applicable, the issuing of voter identity cards, are among the
most costly elements of elections. One of the advantages of the continuous list over the periodic
list is the emphasis in the latter on reusing data, a procedure that has important cost savings
implications.
Costs Highly Variable
It is difficult to provide an overall country-by-country comparison of the costs of voter registration
using periodic lists versus continuous list because the manner in which the budgets are presented
and the types of expenses included under voter registration vary considerably.
In 1997, the election authority in Canada changed from a periodic list system to a continuous list.
As part of its evaluation of the two systems, Elections Canada conducted a detailed cost
comparison of the two systems of registration, providing what is undoubtedly the most recent and
comprehensive comparison of this kind. It is obvious that the Canadian experience is not directly
relevant or applicable in other contexts, particularly because in both systems Elections Canada used
an expensive and highly sophisticated computer infrastructure, an infrastructure that is not in place
in other contexts. Nonetheless, the comparison of the two systems undertaken by Elections
Canada is instructive.
The Canadian Case
The 1997 enumeration marked the last time a national enumeration would take place in Canada,
as the election authority, Elections Canada, moved to the adoption of a national voters list. Canada
has for years had very redundant voter registration provisions in its legal structure, requiring local,
provincial, and national levels of government each to produce their own versions of a voters list.
One of the principal reasons for the change to a continuous list, although certainly not the only
reason, was budgetary. The national voters list was seen as having the potential of significant cost
savings as compared to an enumeration for each election.
Enumeration versus Register of Voters: A Cost Comparison
Staff members at Elections Canada compared costs of the enumeration system versus the list of
voters. They found that in the first register, the costs would be $70.5 million (U.S. $50.3 million)
for an enumeration compared to CDN $71.3 million (U.S. $50.9 million) for the register of voters.
In the subsequent election, the cost of enumeration was estimated at $78.5 million (U.S. $56.0
million) compared to only $39.3 million (U.S. $28.1 million), for the register of voters, a savings
of almost $40 million for each subsequent election. In his report of the 1997 federal election, the
chief electoral officer revised this estimate, to a cost savings of $30 million per election.84
Because Elections Canada registered a total of 18.8 million voters in 1997, the total cost per voter
for the enumeration was $3.75 (U.S. $2.68). This figure represents the cost of enumeration using
door-to-door canvassing in a country of vast size and relatively sparse population over much of its
territory. The Canadian case is also characterised was a very well-developed central election
authority, and a high degree of computerization of its registration process, including computer
software specifically designed by Elections Canada for the production of the preliminary and final
list of voters.
Controlling Costs
Costs of the voter registration initiative can easily escalate to consume larger and larger parts of
the total election budget. Much of the costs associated with registration will be for items used by
the local election registration offices, yet will be paid by the central election authority. These
include such things as the following:
- office equipment
- office rental
- stationery
- recruitment of staff
- training for all staff
- wages and expenses (especially travel) for staff
- materials used in registration (including forms, registration cards, identification badges for
staff, etc.)
- production of the voter identification cards (including photographers, film, cameras, backdrop,
plastic laminate, etc.)
- communications (phone, fax, postal services)
Placing Ceilings on Costs
The central election authority is generally in a good position to control the costs of registration by
imposing ceilings on salaries and on hours of employment. It can also impose constraints on the
total size and quality of office space and equipment leased or purchased for the office, and provide
regulations on what items are considered eligible expenses.
Factors Contributing to High Costs
Factors that drive up the cost of the registration initiative include the following:
- Use of voter identification cards, especially photo-identification cards. Although the cost of
this item tends to be high, the improvement in the ability to positively identify each qualified
voter that results may make this cost a reasonable expenditure.
- Low population density. This factor, which obviously is beyond the control of the election
authority, requires a larger number of registration officers, election districts, or registration centres.
A key principle guiding registration is that voters should not bear unnecessarily high costs,
including costs of transportation, or time away from work, in order to register to vote. It is
incumbent upon the election administration authority to ease the burden of registration, even if this
means setting up a relatively large number of registration centres, or using mobile registration
centres.
- The use of nonstandard materials. Whenever the materials used in the registration drive are
not consistent with the industry standard, where applicable, the costs of production will increase.
For example, when producing voter identity cards, it is first necessary to determine the size of card
that is appropriate for the type of laminating equipment that is being used. It is best to get
estimates of the total card production package at the outset, to ensure that the laminating
equipment does not result in the purchase on nonstandard (and hence more expensive) paper, or
photographic slides, in the production of the cards.
