A Call for full Release of the 2021 Provisional Register
The Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) will shortly begin to conduct what is known as a people-to-list test of the 2021 Provisional Voters Register. The test is part of CCMG’s mission to observe and assess various electoral processes that are being implemented throughout the 2021
electoral cycle and. People- to-list test is a type of voter register audit.
We are taking advantage of this opportunity provided by ECZ to conduct what is called a people-to list test of the 2021 Provisional Voters Register during this period. Before embarking on this test, we informed ECZ of our intentions to undertake such an exercise in a letter dated 19th February
2021.
The people-to-list test is an audit procedure that has been conducted by civil society organisations in countries throughout the world, including in our neighbour Zimbabwe by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) for their 2018 elections. CCMG will conduct its people-to-list test by
drawing a nationally representative sample of 2,400 persons of voting age population. From this nationally representative sample, each of the 330 CCMG observers will be given a small number of demographic types of registered voters – for example, a woman between the ages of 18-35 – and
locations. The observers will then seek to speak to people who fit the demographic description in the locations they have been given.
All CCMG observers carrying out the people-to-list test will be wearing CCMG attire and a CCMG badge. The CCMG observer will ask the persons he or she identifies a few questions related to their voter registration experience. If the person says they registered to vote and are willing to discuss their experience, the observer will also ask the person’s permission to inspect their Voter ID and National Registration Cards (NRCs) and record information from that card. A CCMG observer will never ask to keep the interviewee’s card, but only use it to record information from it. CCMG will
keep all data collected secure and ONLY use the information gathered for the purpose of verifying if these persons appear correctly on the Provisional Voters Register. Once that information is collected by the CCMG observers, it will be checked against the Provisional Voters Register to
determine if the person is listed there and also if the person’s details are correctly recorded.
By conducting the people-to-list test, CCMG will have a nationally representative and statistically valid mechanism for assessing certain aspects of the quality of the 2021 Provisional Voters Register, specifically the inclusion in the Register of people who say they have registered and the correctness of their details in the Provisional Voters Register, and the size and scope of any omissions or errors in voters’ details. CCMG will share its analysis of the people-to-list data with the ECZ and other stakeholders. It is hoped that by conducting the people-to-list test during the inspection period, there will be time to address any significant concerns in the report related to the Provisional Voters Register. If the data Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) – ccmgzambia.org People-to-List Test of the Provisional Voter Register 2021 Announcement points to no significant concerns in the Provisional Voters Register in terms of people who say they registered appearing on the Provisional 2021 Voters Register, CCMG hopes the people-to-list test will build confidence in this aspect of the Register as we head to the 12th August election. The people-to-list test is only one type of voters register audit and only measures a specific aspect of a register (whether people who say they are registered appear on a register with correct details). For a more complete picture of the 2021 Voters Register, other types of audits need to be conducted as well. Other types of voters register audits require the release by ECZ of the full provisional register, and so CCMG calls upon ECZ to release the full provisional register immediately and the certified voter register when it becomes available. Such an action by ECZ will demonstrate its commitment to transparency and will serve to build confidence by stakeholders and also the credibility of the 2021 Voters Register.
