112 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "The names and number of requesting voters who have used or are using the special provisions should be recorded in polling-station and other protocols in order to avoid double voting…"
- "In addition, States should take the necessary policy and institutional steps to ensure the progressive achievement and consolidation of democratic goals, including through the establishment of a neutral, impartial or balanced mechanism for the management of elections. In so doing, they should, among other matters: ...Ensure the integrity of the ballot through appropriate measures to prevent multiple voting or voting by those not entitled thereto."
- "The ballot should be easy to fill out for the voter, and safeguarded, by e.g. watermarks, to avoid duplication."
- "There must be an adequate system for controlling that nobody can give multiple votes. This is normally done by crossing out in the electoral rolls, by stamping identity cards or by giving a stamp on a hand, if rolls are not available."
- "A number of other safeguards may also be built into voting systems to help protect the security and secrecy of ballots, for example: Stamping ballots with an official stamp specific to the polling station when they are given to voters or before they are placed in the ballots box; Having one or more polling-station officials sign the back of the blank ballot when it is given to the voter; Use of numbered ballot stubs to monitor the number of votes in a ballot box; Use of a stamp rather than a pen to mark ballots; Use of heavy paper for ballots so that marks cannot be seen through the back of the ballot paper; Printing ballots with watermarks or other devices to make them harder to counterfeit.”"
- "...The fingers of new voters are being checked for ink at the polling station to prevent multiple voting."
- "Ensuring that security arrangements exist to ensure that the ballot papers issued to the electors are those actually placed in the ballot box, and that no opportunity for substitution arises."
- "In the event of serious irregularities, such as ballot box stuffing or tampering with results protocols at any level of election administration, observers should bring them promptly to the attention of the LTOs responsible for the respective area of deployment."
- "Of particular importance is the proof that the ballot box is empty prior to being sealed."
- "The observers should arrive at a polling station prior to the official opening to observe the pre-opening procedures. These may include demonstrating to the observers that the boxes are empty before sealing."
- "It is important to note whether the ballot boxes are empty at the start of the process."
- "It is important to note… whether the polling station has received, and can account for, blank ballots and all other necessary materials."
- "At the opening and closing of the poll, the procedures for handling and sealing ballot boxes should be open to the scrutiny of those party agents and other observers who may be present."
- "It is important to note…whether [ballot boxes] are... properly sealed."
- "The tear-off part of the ballot should not bear any serial number, while the counterfoil might have these numbers for control purposes."
- "Appropriate steps should also be taken to ensure the security of the ballot papers, the ballot boxes and other polling equipment at all stages. Whenever ballot boxes are open they should be in full view of any party polling agents present and whenever they are sealed any party agents present should have the opportunity to inspect the official seals and, where appropriate, affix their own. When boxes are transported to counting centres provision should be made where possible to enable party agents to travel on the same vehicles as the boxes and to accompany them throughout. When it is necessary to store boxes containing uncounted ballots overnight an opportunity should be afforded to party agents to be present in the immediate vicinity of the boxes, together with appropriate security guards."
- "The counting process in turn requires measures to ensure that ballot boxes are empty before voting begins, that they are secure when polling stations are closed, or during any period of transit, and that votes are tallied in a process that inspires confidence in the electorate."
- "...[T]he legal framework should provide safeguards where technology is used to count ballots."
- "The legal framework… should also provide safeguards where technology is used and ballots are counted other than manually."
- "At the count observers should pay particular attention to the following points:...the security of the papers at all stages of the count; checking that there is no opportunity to falsify or substitute papers."
- "Those SADC countries that still use opaque wooden ballot boxes are urged to discard them in favour of transparent ballot boxes."
- "Every citizen has the right to vote in periodic and genuine elections, which should be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors, in accordance with national law. "
- "Multiple voting should be prevented effectively without, however, violating the principle of the secrecy of the vote. "
- "[States should] ensure transparency of the electoral process, particularly in: 8.2.3. the conduct of the ballot: it is advisable to ensure that polling stations are appropriately designed, that transparent ballot boxes are used, that voting booths are available, that counting takes place in public and that distance voting is well regulated. "
- "[E]ach voter has in principle one vote; where the electoral system provides voters with more than one vote, each voter has the same number of votes."
- "Equal voting power: seats must be evenly distributed between the constituencies.It entails a clear and balanced distribution of seats among constituencies on the basis of one of the following allocation criteria: population, number of resident nationals (including minors), number of registered voters, and possibly the number of people actually voting. An appropriate combination of these criteria may be envisaged."
- "The geographical criterion and administrative, or possibly even historical, boundaries may be taken into consideration. "
- "The permissble departure from the norm [of equal seat distribution] should not be more than 10%, and should certainly not exceed 15% except in special circumstances (protection of a concentrated minority, sparsely populated administrative entity)."
- "The right and opportunity to vote and to be elected embodied in Article 23(1)(b) of the American Convention is exercised regularly in genuine periodic elections by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters. Over and above these characteristics of the electoral process (genuine periodic elections) and of the principles of the suffrage (universal, equal, secret, that reflect the free expression of the will of the people), the American Convention does not establish a specific mechanism or a particular electoral system by which the right to vote and to be elected must be exercised (infra para. 197). The Convention merely establishes certain standards within which the States legitimately may and must regulate political rights, provided that these regulations comply with the requirements of legality, are designed to fulfill a legitimate purpose, and are necessary and proportionate; that is, they are reasonable according to the principles of representative democracy. "
- "Regarding whether the measure was adapted to achieving the legitimate objective sought, based on the above the Court finds that, in the instant case, the exclusivity of nomination by political parties to elected office at the federal level is an appropriate measure to produce the legitimate result sought of organizing the electoral processes efficiently in order to hold genuine periodic elections, by universal and equal suffrage and by secret vote that guarantee the free expression of the will of the voters, as established by the American Convention. "
- "The proper establishment and maintenance of electoral registers is vital in implementing and guaranteeing universal suffrage. In practice, it is a pre-condition for enabling voters to use their right to vote. Voter registration, however, is one of the most complex, controversial and often least successful parts of electoral administration in emerging and new democracies, especially in post-conflict situations with a large number of refugees and internally displaced persons. "
- "In order to safeguard the ballot, in many countries ballot papers bear an official stamp specific to the polling station and/or the signature of authorised polling station officials. Some electoral laws contain clear and detailed provisions on that subject. According to the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, the signing and stamping of ballot papers should not take place at the point at which the ballot is presented to the voter because, theoretically, the stamp or the signature might mark the ballot in such a way that the voter could be identified later during the count. (CDL-AD(2002)023rev, para. 34). Even more important is that the ballots are not stamped by a member of the polling station commission after the voter has made his/her choice. "
- "Single-member ballot: there is where there is just one seat to be filled per constituency and each elector has only one vote. It is therefore applicable only in plurality/majority or hybrid systems. "
- "The single non-transferable vote: irrespective of the number of seats to be filled, each elector has only one vote. Candidates receiving the most votes are elected in proportion to the number of seats to be filled. This system is regarded as being the “fairest” of the nonproportional methods, since it enables a high degree of proportionality to be achieved between the votes cast and the number of seats. "
- "Electoral registers Fulfilment of the following criteria is essential if electoral registers are to be reliable: i. electoral registers must be permanent or refer to a register that is constantly updated (population register or register of births, marriages and deaths). "
- "Fulfilment of the following criteria is essential if electoral registers are to be reliable: ii. there must be regular up-dates, at least once a year. Where voters are not registered automatically, registration must be possible over a relatively long period. "
- "Fulfilment of the following criteria is essential if electoral registers are to be reliable: vi. provision may be made for a supplementary register as a means of giving the vote to persons who have moved or reached statutory voting age since final publication of the register. "
- "Each voter has in principle one vote; where the electoral system provides voters with more than one vote (for example, where there are alternatives), each voter has the same number of votes. "
- "Special rules providing for an exception to the normal vote-counting rules, in a proportional way, in the case of a referendum concerning the situation of national minorities do not, in principle, run counter to equal suffrage. "
- "[A]t least two criteria should be used to assess the accuracy of the outcome of the ballot: the number of votes cast and the number of voting slips placed in the ballot box; viii. voting slips must not be tampered with or marked in any way by polling station officials; ix. unused and invalid voting slips must never leave the polling station; x. polling stations must include representatives of a number of parties, and the presence of observers appointed by the latter or by other groups that have taken a stand on the issue put to the vote must be permitted during voting and counting. "
- "[V]oting slips must not be tampered with or marked in any way by polling station officials. "
- "[U]nused and invalid voting slips must never leave the polling station. "
- "[E]lectoral registers must be permanent."
- "With multi-member constituencies, seats should preferably be redistributed without redefining constituency boundaries, which should, where possible, coincide with administrative boundaries. "
- "[V]oting slips must not be tampered with or marked in any way by polling station officials."
- "[U]nused voting slips must never leave the polling station. "
- "[C]ounting should preferably take place in polling stations. "
- "The proper maintenance of electoral registers is vital in guaranteeing universal suffrage. However, it is acceptable for voters not to be included automatically on the registers, but only at their request. In practice, electoral registers are often discovered to be inaccurate, which leads to disputes. Lack of experience on the part of the authorities, population shifts and the fact that few citizens bother to check the electoral registers when they are presented for inspection make it difficult to compile these registers. A number of conditions must be met if the registers are to be reliable: i. There must be permanent electoral registers. "
- "There must be regular updates, at least once a year, so that municipal (local) authorities get into the habit of performing the various tasks involved in updating at the same time every year. Where registration of voters is not automatic, a fairly long time period must be allowed for such registration. "
- "There should be an administrative procedure – subject to judicial control – or a judicial procedure enabling electors not on the register to have their names included. In some countries, the closing date for entry in the supplementary register may be, for example, 15 days before the election or election day itself. The latter case, whilst admirably broad-minded, relies on decisions made by a court obliged to sit on polling day, and is thus ill-suited to the organisational needs on which democracies are based. In any event polling stations should not be permitted to register voters on election day itself. "