VOTER’S ROLL VERIFICATION VS. VOTER’S AUDIT: ARE THEY THE SAME?
Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) in reaction the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG)’s call for an independent Audit of the Voter’s Roll retorted thus
“Commission will this time around not conduct an audit of the register given that this will be a new register of voters which will address most concerns that stakeholders may have”.
Further the Commission urged “stakeholders wishing to conduct an independent audit of the register can take advantage of the verification of voter details once the Commission opens up the verification and physical inspection of the voter’s register to the public”- ECZ/25/01/2021
Is the Commission telling the nation that verification and Audit are the same processes? Nope!
Voter’s register audit is for assessing the quality of the Voter’s Roll and provide complimentary information such as identification of fictitious names, the dead, changes and missing in voter’s details, duplicate names, ineligibles and changes in registration trends, among others.
Voter’s Roll Verification involves posting the voter’s register at locations around the country for public easy of access. It offers an opportunity for the public to file claims or objection for additions, deletions or corrections.
This also emphasises individual VOTER presentation at the verification centre.
So why is the ECZ confusing the two processes to mean the same and why is it scared of the Audit?
The electoral world is moving away from regularity to quality of elections and a quality voter’s roll is key component of quality election.
Therefore, the argument that because the register is new and verification is to be done, so the concerns that trigger an audit are addressed, does not hold water at all.
As argued above the Audit is a must especially with unresolved allegations from some stakeholders of registration of children, foreigners and other ineligibles coupled with the registration of prisoners.
It is for the good of the ECZ and for transparency, accountable and quality elections on August 12, 2021 so let us not fear the Audit or block it from happening. We need it like yesterday.
I submit
McDonald Chipenzi
Electoral expert