Freedom of Information
Because a civil registry system can be, and sometimes is, administered without the printing of a
voters list, how can citizens determine whether they are registered and whether the information in
the registry is correct? One way to address this is to send a notification to each voter before an
election, informing them of the date of the election, the location of their voting station, and
including the relevant information on them with respect to the eligibility to vote.
In addition, provisions should be made for citizens to review the information about them in the
civil register, and to file an objection to that information should they so desire. Provision can be
made for political parties to review the information on eligible voters in a civil registry, but such a
provision requires the printing of voters lists.
The importance of the provisions of free access of citizens to the population register in Sweden
was highlighted in a description of the registry prepared by the Swedish Tax
Administration:
It has been natural for a long time in Sweden for the authorities'
activities to be monitored and debated by the people. This has been considered to be so important
and so basic to society that the right of the general public and the media to have access to and
insight into the activities of authorities has been included in the Swedish constitution under the
Freedom of the Press Act. This basic right is known as the open access
principle.
The open access principle means, among other things, that
the general public is normally entitled to examine documents held by the authorities. However, in
certain cases there must be exceptions to this principle, such as with particularly sensitive
information. These exceptions are stated in a special Secrecy Act.
For
the population registration authority the access principle means that anyone normally has the right
to examine details recorded in the population register. The exceptions are stated in the Secrecy
Act if it is considered that special reasons exist where details would cause harm if they were
revealed. An example could be where the address of someone who is being threatened or
persecuted is revealed.105
Review of the Voters List
The election authority in Armenia provides the ability for voters, parties, and/or their proxies to
view the voters list beginning fifteen days before an election. Objections and claims can be filed
with the precinct election committee, which must act on the claim within two days. The precinct
election committee can either amend the list accordingly or reject the claim. This decision is
appealable to the district (city) court, whose decision is final.106
