Summary
Procedures should not create unnecessary technical barriers to participation by otherwise qualified eligible voters.
Obligations
Election Parts
Criteria
- Vote counting and tabulation processes protected the right to be elected
- Limitations on universal suffrage imposed during the voter registration process were reasonable and objective
- Voter registration promoted broad participation, and there were no barriers to participation by otherwise qualified eligible voters
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.
- Fulfilment of the following criteria is essential if electoral registers are to be reliable: iv. there should be an administrative procedure – subject to judicial control – or a judicial procedure, allowing for the registration of a voter who was not registered; the registration should not take place as a result of a decision taken by the polling station on election day
- [A]dvance registration should be allowed for those who will reach minimum voting age by election day, but after the close of registration
- 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.
- ...[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.