|
DEVELOPING ACCURATE VOTERS’ LIST IN TRANSITIONAL DEMOCRACIES
Questionnaire
The Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO) launched a two years project in January 2009 called “Developing accurate voters’ list in transitional democracies” with the support of United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF). A key element of the project is a comparative study on the state of voter registration in all ACEEEO member countries. The ACEEEO experts compiled a simple questionnaire on the different aspects of voter registration, which you will find below. The right of all eligible citizens to participate in the affairs of their government is one of the cornerstones of the democracy. For citizens to exercise their right to vote there must be a comprehensive and inclusive electoral register. Voter lists by confirming that voters have met all eligibility requirements helps conferring legitimacy on the electoral process. Newly established democracies face some difficulties because of deficiencies of legal framework or administrative process. In our research we would like to give a regional comprehensive overview and try to find the reasons for mistakes and deficiencies. According to our hypothesis regardless the design of voter registration system every system can fulfill the two basic requirements of the voter lists more or less. Performance level is depends on active or passive role of the electoral authorities (and of course politics itself) rather than on the system itself. As a result of our project we would like to explore the differences between the theory and practice, and offer 'best practices' for establishing an adequate, realistic and affordable voters’ registration systems for the above mentioned countries.
1. Technical Bloc
1.1. Design of Voter Registration Main aim: employing a voter registration system, which is most responsive to local conditions: realistic, affordable (financially/administrative), sustainable. Q.: Which type of voter registration system do you have? (Please, choose one option and give a detailed answer in 100 words.) - periodic list; - civil registry; - continuous register or list; - combination; - other (pls., specify). Research question: Taking the local conditions into account does the existing voter registration system is the best for examined country? 1.2. Registration Aim: determining the administrative process (methods) with the type of voter registration (i.e. obligation or right of citizenship). If the prevailing view is that voting is an obligation and responsibility of citizenship, it follows that registration should be mandatory. If voting viewed as a right rather than an obligation, registration is an option to be exercised by voters at their own discretion. (Please, choose one option and give a detailed answer in 100 words.) Q.: Is the registration compulsory or voluntary? - compulsory; - voluntary. Q.: If the registration is voluntary, is it the initiative of the citizen or the state? - citizen; - state; - shared. Research question: Is voter registration an obligation and responsibility of citizenship, or is it a right of citizenship to be exercised at the discretion of each individual? 1.3. Technical circumstances Aim: helping determine the kind of voter registration system best suited to a particular political, administrative system. (Please, give a detailed answer in 300 words using these questions.) Q.: How does the state ensure a working computerized system? What role does computerization play in the voter registration process? What aspects of the process are best handled by computer? How do eligible voters identify themselves as such at the polling station? Do they use a voter registration card or some other identification methods? If a voter registration card is used, what information must be on the card?
2. Political Equality and Inclusiveness bloc Aim: Employing voter registration system, which is inclusive: accessible to all groups and categories of eligible citizens and supports democratic principles by fostering political equality for all citizen. 2.1. Transparency of voter registration In order to ensure that all eligible citizens can control, whether they are properly included into the voters’ list, they have to be public in due time before election date, and citizens have to be given the right to control them and to request correction if necessary. (Please, give a detailed answer in 300 words using these questions.) Aim: giving citizens the right to control and correct their data through transparent public display of voters’ list. § Public display Q.: Are voters’ lists publicly displayed before the elections? What time before the day of election voter lists are displayed? § Data protection Q.: What measures are taken to avoid misuse of personal data displayed on voters’ list? 2.2. Legal exclusion Although in the democracies there are no censuses anymore, voters may be excluded from a voters list through either legal means. Legal exclusions were gradually disappeared from established democracies, however some countries still exclude people on the basis of different factors (such as age, etc,..). (Please, give a detailed answer in 500 words using these questions. Please, mention the legal frame in your answer!) Aim: eliminating legal exclusion with a politically well-established, proper legal provision. § Age
Q.: What is the legal voting age in the national elections?
Q.: Do refugees have to right for vote?
§ Residence
Q.: Is there any special provision according to residence? How can voters cast their ballots abroad? § Conviction of a criminal offence Q.: Is there any special provision according to conviction of a criminal offence? How does it regulate? § Mental incompetence Q.: Is there any special provision regarding to mental incompetence? Research question: What are the roots of the exclusions? Is it because of administrative malfunctions, lack of financial source, or technical support or political-drive? 2.3. Economic exclusion Registration must be inclusive. However, some citizens’ social or economic status makes registration difficult. In this case, state has to play more active role in involving these particular groups. (Please, give a detailed answer in 300 words using these questions.) Aim: making registration system truly open to these groups with breaking down any formal and informal barriers.
Q.: Is there any difficulty involving rural (distant areas) population? What kind of methods, tools, which are different from the legal norms, can be used for encouraging participation of this group?
Q.: Is there any difficulty involving economically disenfranchised, homeless people? What kind of methods, tools, which are different from the legal norms, can be used for encouraging participation of this group? 2.4. Cultural exclusion Belonging to a cultural, national or ethnic minority means a special status within the political community. Please, give a detailed answer in 300 words using these questions.) Aim: making registration system truly open to minorities with breaking down any formal and informal barriers. Q.: Are there any campaigns for involving people?
What percentages of voters do belong to national or ethnic minority? Do you employ special measure to break down barriers? Are there any special rules for enabling minorities to take part in election? Research question: How much effort does the election authority make to register voters from different (visible and ethnic) minorities? Does election authority try to increase the participation of these groups with targeted campaigns, etc.? Or do the authorities employ passive approach? 2.5. Administrative Exclusion Aim: encouraging or facilitating citizens’ registration particularly when administrative barriers exist for eligible citizens to register to vote. (Please, give a detailed answer in 300 words using these questions.) § Deadline
Q.: What is the deadline for registering?
How close is the deadline to the day of election?
Q.: Do the voters have to pay for the registration (or for voter registration card, or for anything)?
Q.: Is the registration process is time-consuming? Do the voters must travel for registering?
3. Performance criteria Clear performance criteria help to measure utility, cost-effectiveness and accuracy of voter lists. (Please, give a detailed answer in 300 words using these questions.) Aim: clarifying current status of voters’ list.
Q.: Are there any targets or benchmarks for better voter registration (rate of eligible citizens on the list; data entry error, current information on voters)? How do you measure accuracy?
What is the rate of error (accuracy) in entering data of individual voters (name, address, gender, age, citizenship, and other variables)? How do you update your data (currency of data)? Research question: How much the voter registration is complete, current, and accurate?
4. Best practices Aim: knowing more about advantages and disadvantages system of voter registration in the examined country. (Please, give a detailed answer in 300 words using these questions.) Q.: Do you think your system is the best for your country? How do you deal with local conditions (e.g. population mobility, literacy rates, etc.) affect your system? Is there any technical, administrative difficulty regarding to the system?
|
