Summary
States should proactively put in the public domain government information of public interest.
Obligations
Election Parts
Issues
- Access to Information and Electoral Management Body Documents
- Access to Electoral Information
- Transparent Dispute Resolution Process
- Transparency in the Reporting, Transmission, and Publishing of Election Results
- Transparency and Access to Electoral Documents
- Voter Access to Registration Information
- Access to Information and Electoral Documents
Criteria
- The state proactively put information regarding voter registration in the public domain
- The voter list was publicly displayed, and there was adequate time for public inspection of the list, including time for objections and the adjudication of disputes
- The state proactively put in the public domain government information of public interest
- The state proactively put government information of public interest, including electoral information, in the public domain
- Documents regarding the electoral process, including voting operations, were publicly accessible and accurate
Quotes
- To give effect to the right of access to information, States parties should proactively put in the public domain Government information of public interest. States parties should make every effort to ensure easy, prompt, effective and practical access to such information. States parties should also enact the necessary procedures, whereby one may gain access to information, such as by means of freedom of information legislation.
- An applicant for an official document should not be obliged to give reasons for having access to the official document.
- A request for access to an official document shall be dealt with promptly. The decision shall be reached, communicated and executed as soon as possible or within a reasonable time limit which has been specified beforehand.
- Each Party shall guarantee the right of everyone, without discrimination on any ground, to have access, on request, to official documents held by public authorities. 2. Each Party shall take the necessary measures in its domestic law to give effect to the provisions for access to official documents set out in this Convention. 3. These measures shall be taken at the latest at the time of entry into force of this Convention in respect of that Party.`
- Member states should guarantee the right of everyone to have access, on request, to official documents held by public authorities. This principle should apply without discrimination on any ground, including that of national origin.
- First of all, funding must be transparent; such transparency is essential whatever the level of political and economic development of the country concerned. Transparency operates at two levels. The first concerns campaign funds, the details of which must be set out in a special set of carefully maintained accounts. In the event of significant deviations from the norm or if the statutory expenditure ceilings are exceeded, the election must be annulled. The second level involves monitoring the financial status of elected representatives before and after their term in office. A commission in charge of financial transparency takes formal note of the elected representatives’ statements as to their finances. The latter are confidential, but the records can, if necessary, be forwarded to the public prosecutor’s office.
- The legal framework should require that all relevant electoral documents be publicly accessible, including election protocols, tabulation and tally sheets, and decisions determining or affecting election results. Such electoral documents should be publicly posted at all levels of election administration, including polling, municipal, and state election commission levels. Detailed tabulations of overall results, including the voting results in each polling station, should be posted at each election commission. These detailed tabulations should also be published in state owned or controlled print media as soon as the results are certified.
- Each public body and relevant private body must publish the following information produced by or in relation to that body within 30 days of the information being generated or received by that body: manuals, policies, procedures or rules or similar instruments which have been prepared for, or are used by, officers of the body in discharging that body’s functions, exercising powers and handling complaints, making decisions or recommendations or providing advice to persons outside the body with respect to rights, privileges or benefits, or to obligations, penalties or other detriments, to or for which persons may be entitled.
- [E]lectoral registers must be published;
- For decisions of election administrators to be satisfactory to the participants, the information on which the decision is based must be accurate as well as accessible. Inaccurate or unreliable information can undermine confidence in both the administration’s decisions and its general competence...Election administrators...should: (i) Ensure that information is collected, compiled, and published in a way that is systematic, clear, and unambiguous. (ii) Do anything necessary, within the country’s legal framework, to ensure that all the information that they compile, use, or publish has a sound factual basis.
- Among the transparency measures that are recommended are: The counting and tabulation of votes should be fully transparent and accessible to representatives of election contestants, as well as other observers; Representatives and, if possible, observers should also be given copies of results compiled at all levels of election administration; The transportation and receipt of sensitive election materials should also be accessible to representatives and observers under appropriate security arrangements; The announcement of results should be expeditious, and the information that is published should be complete (including the actual numbers of votes cast, and not just percentages); The publication of results should include detailed breakdowns nationally, regionally (if applicable), and by polling stations (if votes are counted in this manner) or other voting sites or methods, except in highly exceptional circumstances where identifying the geographical distribution of the results of voting could lead to discrimination, retributions, or other severe adverse action against a local or regional population, and such circumstances should be explained and be subject to judicial review.
- Public bodies and relevant private bodies must proactively publish information.