1059 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "The registration system should be designed to enable every eligible voter to cast a ballot."
- "Every elector has the opportunity to record his or her vote freely and without fear; ensuring that there are no abnormal limitations upon the franchise or obstacles to registration or to voting."
- "The voter registration process should promote broad participation and should not inhibit the participation of eligible voters… Cost effective voter identification protocols should be established to enable the maximum possible inclusion of eligible voters, while minimizing multiple or illegal voter registration."
- "The right to vote is violated if the legal framework makes it difficult for a person to register to vote, as normally a person who is not registered cannot legally vote."
- "All citizens of the country should have the right to…be registered as voters on equal terms."
- "Universal suffrage requires that the broadest reasonable pool of voters is guaranteed participatory rights."
- "Procedures should accommodate broad participation and should not crate unnecessary technical barriers to participation by otherwise qualified persons. For instance, advance registration should be allowed for those who will reach the minimum voting age by election day, but after the close of registration."
- "States must take effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote are able to exercise that right. Where registration of voters is required, it should be facilitated and obstacles to such registration should not be imposed. If residence requirements apply to registration, they must be reasonable, and should not be imposed in such a way as to exclude the homeless from the right to vote. Any abusive interference with registration or voting as well as intimidation or coercion of voters should be prohibited by penal laws and those laws should be strictly enforced."
- "...[C]ommon problems associated with voter registration: [include] procedures that cause unreasonable difficulty for certain sectors of the population to register or obtain the identification card necessary for voting, including: limiting hours or days for registration; placing registration sites at inconvenient locations; levying fees; conducting literacy exams; or subjecting registrants to unfairly burdensome procedures such as presenting multiple identification cards or photographs, making multiple visits to the registration site, etc."
- "The registration offices should be located and open for registration at places and times that do not make it difficult or costly for a person to register."
- "[A]dvance registration should be allowed for those who will reach minimum voting age by election day, but after the close of registration"
- "Eligible voters should be provided with a continuous and accessible voter registration facility."
- "Registration procedures and facilities should be readily accessible to the electorate, and the registration procedures clearly stated."
- "Registration facilities must be available in all parts of a country and allow all people who are entitled to register to do so."
- "The convenience of access to voter-registration centres can also be relevant during any public scrutiny period provided for voters to check the voter lists to ensure they are included."
- "There should be provisions and practical arrangements for continuous voter registration and an updated voters’ register must be made available to all stakeholders in the elections."
- "Registration of voters should therefore be a continuous exercise..."
- "There should be sufficient time for eligible voters to register, for public inspection of the voters' roll, for objections and for the adjudication of appeals."
- "Safeguards should exist to avoid multiple registration, and there should be provisions for registration of absentee voters."
- "[E]very citizen has one vote or equal number of votes with other citizens, and they have the right to exercise on the equal basis with other citizens their voting right, and their vote(s) has (have) the same weight as votes of other voters, and the weight of vote (votes) of the voter should not be affected by the election system applied in the state."
- "The process should facilitate the registration of a qualified voter, while at the same time safeguarding against the registration of ineligible persons."
- "Safeguards should exist to avoid multiple registration."
- "Safeguards should exist to avoid multiple registration."
- "There should be no fee for citizens to be registered as voters."
- "Persons responsible for the compilation of files or those responsible for keeping them have an obligation to conduct regular checks on the accuracy and relevance of the data recorded and to ensure that they are kept as complete as possible in order to avoid errors of omission and that they are kept up to date regularly or when the information contained in a file is used, as long as they are being processed."
- "In order to ensure credible elections, the election authorities must ensure a Voters' Register that is complete, accurate and current."
- "Registered voters may be provided with voter cards as proof of their registration. There may be legal provisions that allow non-registered eligible voters to be included on special supplementary voter lists on election day. In all cases, the procedures in place should ensure that all eligible electors are able to vote, only eligible electors are able to vote and that adequate measures are taken to prevent multiple registration that could lead to multiple voting (e.g., through changes in residence or name changes after marriage). Procedures should also be in place to ensure the removal of the names of deceased persons and the inclusion of newly eligible voters."
- "A voter register has to be regularly updated to remain accurate."
- "Accuracy is important, especially so in proportional representation systems that employ multi-member constituencies…"
- "The right to vote is also violated if the legal framework fails to ensure accuracy in voter registers or facilitates fraudulent voting. The international standard for voter registration is that the register must be comprehensive, inclusive, accurate and up to date, and the process must be fully transparent."
- "Irrespective of the method used to create a voters list for a particular election, the list must be complete, accurate and current in order to ensure that those eligible to vote are able to do so and those ineligible are barred from doing so."
- "...[C]ommon problems associated with voter registration: [include] inaccurate lists..."
- "Further, the right to vote is subverted if the election system fails to ensure the accuracy of voter lists and thereby either disenfranchises eligible voters or allows illegal voting. Thus, another major component of the election system is the proper conduct of voter registration and maintenance of voter lists. This also requires specifying the method of establishing voter eligibility."
- "Accurate voters lists can only be produced if election officials do their job properly, the population responds actively to the display of draft voters lists, and individuals are able to prove their identity and residence."
- "The legal framework should require that voter registers be maintained in a manner that is transparent, accurate, protects the right of citizens of legal age to register, and prevents the unlawful or fraudulent registration of persons."
- "...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 registration of voters, updating the electoral rolls and balloting procedures, with the assistance of national and international observers as appropriate."
- "The voter registration process is best assured by a permanent, well maintained and regularly updated national voter register."
- "The legal framework should also require that the voters list be systematically updated and corrected in a transparent manner, well in advance of elections, to allow electoral participants and voters the opportunity to review it for accuracy."
- "Fulfillment 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."
- "The actual registration of the electorate can take many forms, or possibly a combination of the following: Emerging democracies often establish a larger number of registration centers and inform eligible voters where to go and register during a specific period. An alternative method is to have registration teams visit homes door to door. The Voters' Register may be derived from the Civil Register if well maintained, and updated through the establishment of Registration Centres."
- "Practice varies between the State responsibility model of registration, through household surveys and visits, and the self-registration model, where the initiative lies with the voter."
- "Methods of registration, therefore, may vary from country to country depending on local circumstances, but should always seek to minimize the potential obstacles for the voter to register."
- "The legal framework may provide that the responsibility to register lies either with the individual -- passive voter registration where the individual voter has the responsibility to approach registration authorities to get herself/himself registered -- or with the state -- active voter registration where the state, the EMB or other authorized body sends its official enumerators from house to house to register votes."
- "[Voter eligibility]...systems include: (1) no registration…(2) census registration or other national registry…or (3) inscription."
- "Voter registration can take many forms. It can be periodic (e.g. prior to each election), or it can be regular (e.g.) updated once a year or even on a monthly/rolling basis). It can also be individually initiated (people need to go to registration centers), state initiated (officials travel door to door), or state-created/automatic (names are taken from a civil/national identification register.)"
- "Countries have adopted a variety of means for registering voters. Active, or affirmative, registration systems require voters themselves to apply for registration at each election. In passive systems, the authorities compile the voter register automatically on the basis of residency, citizen registry or other records. Either type of system is acceptable if it produces a comprehensive, transparent and accurate voter register."
- "A voter registration system may be active or passive."
- "Voter registration can take many different forms: Periodic (e.g., prior to each election or every five years) or Continuous (all the time); Individual-Initiated (people must go to registration centers), State-Initiated (officials travel door-to-door), or State-Created/Automatic (names are taken from a separate database and no contact is required between people and election officials in order to register); and Compulsory (people must register to vote) or Voluntary (people have the choice to register or not)."
- "If advance registration of voters is proposed, the process must be carefully constructed to ensure fairness and effectiveness of provisions concerning elector qualifications, residence requirements, election lists and registers, and the means provided for challenging those documents."
- "Where practicable, political party agents should be encouraged to be involved in the registration process, to aid transparency and to assist by authenticating the process."