Summary
Voter education campaigns are necessary to ensure an informed community is able to effectively exercise the right to vote.
Obligations
Election Parts
Issues
Criteria
Quotes
- 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. Voter education and registration campaigns are necessary to ensure the effective exercise of article 25 rights by an informed community.
- Voter information and education activities are necessary to ensure that all eligible citizens are aware of their political rights, including their right to vote and to be registered to vote.
- The cumulative effect of all voter education in an election should be evaluated by the degree to which pertinent information is reasonably available to all eligible voters in a form that they can comprehend, and in a timely fashion (i.e.. allowing a reasonable time for the audience to make use of the information.
- Funding and administration should be provided for objective, non-partisan voter education and information campaigns.
- Governments should prioritise the funding of civic and voter education by providing for it in the state budget prior to the elections.
- Civic and voter education should be provided in a manner that is non-partisan, independent, co-ordinated and consistent.
- Elections cannot be genuinely democratic unless voters understand the differences among the electoral contestants so that they can cast an informed vote. Voters must also know when, where and how to register to vote, as well as when where and how to vote.
- States must take effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote are able to exercise that right. Voter information is one necessary measure to ensure the effective exercise of the right to vote by an informed community.
- In particular, States should: ...Initiate of facilitate national programmes of civic education, to ensure that the population are familiar with election procedures and issues.
- Voters should also be informed about specific election procedures, including how to fill in their ballots, find the correct place of voting, or obtain information on alternative methods of voting.