Obligation
Equal Suffrage
International and regional treaties protect the right to an election held by equal suffrage.[1] They require that every voter be granted a vote of equal value to that of other voters. Interpretive sources add that the principles of “one person, one vote” must apply and that constituency boundaries should be drawn so that voters are represented in the legislature on a (roughly) equal basis.[2] Other sources, indicative of state practice, suggest that this requires that safeguards be put in place to diminish the potential for multiple voting and fraud.[3]
Issues
Accuracy of the List
- Relevant Election Parts:
- Voter Registration
The voter list was accurate and up-to-date
- Elections must be held by equal suffrage. [?]
- To be complete a voter register must be accurate and current. [?]
- Elections at periodic intervals require regular updating or reestablishment of the voter register. [?]
Voter registration processes prevented multiple registrations
- The electoral system should endeavor to ensure equal suffrage by according each voter and vote equal weight. [?]
- Safeguards should be in place to ensure that voters are unable to register more than once. [?]
- Safeguards should be in place to ensure the accuracy of the vote, no matter the form of balloting or counting used (manual, mechanical, or electronic). [?]
Deterrence of Fraud
- Relevant Election Parts:
- Voting Operations
Procedures did not diminish the value of the votes of particular individuals, groups, or geographic areas
- Elections must be held by equal suffrage. [?]
- Polling procedures designed to diminish the value of the votes of particular individuals, groups, or geographic areas are unacceptable. [?]
Safeguards were in place to prevent multiple voting and other forms of ballot fraud
- The electoral system should endeavor to ensure equal suffrage by according each voter and vote equal weight. [?]
- Duplicate voting is prohibited. [?]
- Provided they allowed for consistency with other international obligations, safeguards may be used to diminish the potential for duplicate voting. [?]
- Voters' fingers may be marked to prevent duplicate voting. [?]
- Ballot box "stuffing" is prohibited. [?]
- As voting begins, ballot boxes should be shown to be empty. [?]
- All ballots, including unused ballots, should be accounted for during election day. [?]
- Ballot boxes should be properly sealed at the beginning of the vote. [?]
Criteria for Boundary Appointment
- Relevant Election Parts:
- Electoral System and Boundary Delimitation
Each vote was of equal weight
- Elections must be held by equal suffrage. [?]
- The electoral system should endeavor to ensure equal suffrage by according each voter and vote equal weight. [?]
- Equal suffrage is best achieved by assigning the same number of voters to each representative. [?]
The apportionment criteria were publicly available and included details such as the number of residents, number of registered voters, number of actual voters, or a combination thereof
- Equal suffrage may be achieved through boundary assignment based on a specific apportionment criterion, which may consider the number of residents, number of resident nationals (including minors), number of registered voters, number of actual voters, or a combination thereof. [?]
- While true equality in delimitation may not always be possible, variances should rarely exceed 10 percent. [?]
- Boundary assignment may account for geographical criteria or administrative or historical boundary lines. [?]
Where variances occurred between the number of voters in various constituencies, they were small
- The electoral system should endeavor to ensure equal suffrage by according each voter and vote equal weight. [?]
- The process of boundary delimitation should respect equal suffrage. [?]
- Equal suffrage is best achieved by assigning the same number of voters to each representative. [?]
- While true equality in delimitation may not always be possible, variances should rarely exceed 10 percent. [?]
Safeguards to Prevent Falsification of Ballots
- Relevant Election Parts:
- Vote Counting and Tabulation
Equal suffrage was respected throughout the electoral process, including vote counting, consistent with the concept of one person, one vote
- Elections must be held by equal suffrage. [?]
Safeguards were put in place to ensure that there existed no opportunity to falsify or substitute ballots, including during the vote counting and tabulation process
- Elections must be held by equal suffrage. [?]
- The electoral system should endeavor to ensure equal suffrage by according each voter and vote equal weight. [?]
- No opportunity should exist to falsify or to substitute ballot papers. [?]
- Safeguards should be in place to ensure the accuracy of the vote, no matter the form of balloting or counting used (manual, mechanical, or electronic). [?]