Building Confidence in the Voter Registration Process

Consider the following scenario:
An elderly woman has been standing throughout the morning in a queue at a polling station. She has been patiently waiting to vote. However, once at the front, she learns that she will not be able to cast her ballot because she lacks identification documents. No voter registration exercise was conducted prior to the elections, and there is no voters list. Even though there are many people in the line who have known the elderly woman their entire lives, the election officials turn her away. This example illustrates the critical role of voter registration in an election process.

Monitoring voter registration in a non-partisan manner serves to promote confidence in the voter registration process, and can encourage popular participation in the electoral process. This guide, divided into four parts, serves as a roadmap for political parties and civic organizations to monitor the voter registration process.

Index:
Part One: Understanding Voter Registration
1. Who Should Vote?
2. Voter Registration
3. Indentifying Voters
4. Creating a Voters List
5. Verifying Who is Registered to Vote
6. Proof of Registration
7. Potential Problems with Registration
8. Election Day Registration
9. Tendered or Challenged Ballots
10. Elections Without Registration
11. Voter Education and the Registration Process
12. Selecting and Training Registration Officials

Part Two: Monitoring Voter Registration
13. Why Monitor Voter Registration?
14. Criteria for Voter Eligibility
15. Voter Registration Framework
16. Access to Voter Registration
17. Quality of the Voters List
i. Field Tests
ii. Computer Tests
18. Verification of the Voters List
19. Selecting an Training Registration Officials

Part Three: Developing a Monitoring Strategy
20. Overall Plan
21. Finances
22. Staff and Volunteers
23. Recruitment and Training
24. Internal Communications and Transport
25. Forms and Computers
26. External Communications
27. Reporting and Advocacy
28. Consolidating Organizational Gains

Appendices-Sample Materials
29. Form for Monitoring Access to the Voter Registration Process
30. Form for Monitoring State-Initiated Voter Registration
31. Form for Monitoring the Training of Regional Staff
32. Form for List-to-Field Test
33. Forms for People-to-list Field Tests
34. Forms for Monitoring Claims and Objections
35. Report on Computer Tests
36. Monitoring Reports