OSCE: HOW TO VERIFY ELECTORAL REGISTERS

AIM Sarajevo, August 6, 1996

In the process of registering voters, the OSCE is trying to verify electoral rolls based on 1991 census so as to reflect the present situation, and exclude all the deceased and those who have expressed their wish to vote in municipalities where they are living now, with the help of registration on Forms 1 and 2. Electoral rolls checked in this way will be sent to the polls. The fact that in a single municipality all polling stations will have the same rolls - the general electoral register of the whole municipality - implies the possibility of a single person voting in more than one place, which motivates various parties to propose their members for the polling commitees, since these committees played the decisive role in the last elections. Since the OSCE does not trust the ruling parties, it has taken over the entire technical organization of the elections. In order to eliminate voting of one person in the name of half a village, it is planned to have an OSCE observer at each polling station.

In order to eliminate the possibility of an individual voting at more than one polling station, the method which proved efficient in Angola will be applied. Before voting, each voter will have to put his/her hand in a device which operates on the principle of infra-red rays and if the device remains silent, the voter will be allowed to vote. Before voting the voter's hand will be marked by invisible chemically stable ink which cannot be washed off. In case of a repeated attempt to vote, the device will give an auduible signal and eliminate the possibility of repeated voting. This time, polling committees will not be the ones to count the ballots, nor will they determine results of voting in a region, it will be done by a special committee consisting of representatives of the OSCE and the Local Election Committee. This committee will receive ballot boxes from election stations, and it alone will be able to open them by applying a code. This shows that polling committees do not have the previous role and that they are just a service of the OSCE. Appearance of the voters in person must be ensured.