ZIMBABWE ELECTION SUPPORT NETWORK Executive Summary The ZESN conducted an audit of the 2018 Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) voters' rolls. The audit was conducted to provide independent non-partisan information on the quality of the 2018 PVR and the 2018 FVR to all stakeholders, including: the ZEC, political parties, civic organizations, and citizens. The methodology of the voters' roll audit encompassed conducting computer audits, people-to-list and list-to-people field tests. ZESN examined accuracy, currency and completeness of the voters' rolls provided. and with younger voters. These issues undermined the credibility of the 2013 harmonized elections. In terms of accuracy, the 2018 PVR has complete data for all registrants and few obviously duplicate registrants, but potential errors were identified related to identifying information (in particular date of birth data for registrants in Mashonaland Central). In terms of currency, the overall number of registrants decreased form -3%. The percentage of new, first time registrants is 43%. Urban registrants increased from 28% to 33%, but registrants for Bulawayo decreased by -14%. Female registrants increased from 52% to 54%. The number of registrants 18 to 22 increased by 372% and those 23 to 27 increased by 83% while the number of registrants 93 to 97 decreased by -91% and those 98 or older decreased -94%. ZESN conducted the audits for voters roll released in electronic format by the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) on 16 June 2018 and the 25th of July 2018. ZESN notes that unlike in past elections the ZEC, provided an electronic copy of the 2018 FVR to stakeholders in accordance with the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) as provided for in Section 21 (7) which prescribes that where a voters' roll is provided in electronic form ….., its format shall be such as allows its contents to be searched and analyzed. The analysis also compared the 2018 FVR voters' roll, with the 2018 PVR and ZimStats 2018 projected census figures. On the whole, the registered voter population of 5,695,706 is lower than both the eligible voters deduced from the2012 census population (6,805,455) as well as those from the 2018 census projections (7,224,128). However, there is a marginal increase of 0.21% in the number of registrants from 5 683 936 reported in the 2018 PVR to 5 695 706 in the FVR. However, the majority (80.40%) of these additions are found in Mashonaland West province. Of the total adult population of registrants contained in the FVR, roughly 54% are women and 46% are men. The majority (68%) of registered voters reside in rural Zimbabwe compared to 32% who stay in urban areas. The analysis managed to flag out a number of records that belong to suspected multiple registered individuals. There are also a few strange cases where the FVR registrants are more than the official 2018 adult population projection. The 2018 FVR will play a critical role in the conduct of the 2018 harmonized elections. It will be used to determine who is able to vote and who is not on Election Day. Errors on the 2018 FVR regardless of whether they are intentional or not could prevent eligible individuals from voting, or enable illegal voting. Further systematic problems that affect particular groups of individuals can fundamentally undermine the credibility of an election. While no voters' roll is perfect, if the 2018 FVR is widely perceived as accurate, current, and complete it will enhance confidence in the overall process for the 2018 harmonized elections. Understanding the quality of the 2018 FVR is particularly important given serious challenges identified with the 2013 preliminary voters roll (PVR). Analysis of the 2013 PVR showed a clear pattern of over registration in rural areas and with older voters and under registration in urban areas In addition, ZESN also conducted complementary field tests audit of the 2018 FVR. The field test audit had two components: a list-to-people test which 7 FINAL REPORT OF THE 2018 VOTERS' ROLL AUDIT