Meeting of the Experts’ Team
At the beginning of the meeting Attila Kaszás introduced to the members the scope of the meeting and the expectations of the ACEEEO Secretariat about the outcomes of the research and analysis activities. The experts expressed their readiness and willingness to contribute with their professional, analytical and writing skills to the success of the project, which they consider very important.
2. Comparative study and questionnaires
The experts received and studied the comparative study on the voter registration systems and standards, which they considered as a good starting point to the research project.
Both for the regional survey and for the case studies the necessary questions were discussed and decided in order to receive from the Election Management Bodies the necessary input for the study. The questionnaires will be sent in August 2010 to the EMBs, and expected back in September and October.
3. Structure of the study, division of tasks
The experts discussed the structural questions of the study to find the best mix of theoretical and practical elements for the user-friendly study. The following structure was decided:
1. Legislative basis: Eligibility to vote, legal exclusions
2. Operational conditions: implementation and integrity of the Voter Registration system
3. a) Voters’ list accuracy, updating, fraud
b) Completeness, everybody on the Voters’ list
4. Accountability, transparency of Voters’ list
Special focus will be in all chapters on pitfalls and problems, on best practices, and a practical checklist will be also added for the users. Mr. Ákos Zsuffa will work on Chapters 1 and 4, while Mr. Sam Younger on the chapters 2 and 3 a-b.
The experts suggested to organise Partners’ meetings with the case study partners to use the synergies of such experience exchanges instead of the expensive study visits. They also suggested to follow the developments of individual voter registration systems during the project period, and to ask the partner countries to document their progress.
The next meeting of the Experts’ Team will be in January 2010.
