Summary
Elections at periodic intervals require regular updating or reestablishment of the voter register.
Obligations
Election Parts
Issues
Quotes
- The voter registration process is best assured by a permanent, well maintained and regularly updated national voter register.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- ...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.
- 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.
- 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).
- [E]lectoral registers must be permanent.
- 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.