ZESN Report on the 31 July 2013 Harmonised Elections provided for scrutiny and the Registrar-General did not give a breakdown of registered voters by province or by constituency, making analysis and verification difficult. The Voters’ Roll Reform of problematic areas that have been identified in previous elections, such as the voters’ roll, was high on the agenda. For the past decade, successive audits of the voters’ roll have shown that the roll is not a true reflection of the registered voter population in Zimbabwe. Chief among the issues is the fact that the roll is inflated; that there are dead people on the roll; and that it is not reflective of the actual population of the country as per census figures. For instance, in some cases there are more people registered in some constituencies than recorded by the census figures. In previous years the voters roll was constituency based. On Election Day every polling station in each constituency received copies of the same roll. Without the other measures against multiple voting, such as indelible ink, a person could vote at all the polling stations in the constituency. This problem was partially addressed by the introduction of ward-based voters’ rolls, which has gone some way towards reducing the possibility of multiple voting. In the past there were calls for polling station-based voters’ rolls because it is was believed that such a system would prevent the movement of voters to bolster support for certain candidates and would prevent double or multiple voting. However, given the political climate in Zimbabwe, there were risks associated with such a process. Firstly, there was the risk of deliberate displacement of voters from their specific polling stations. Secondly, there was also the risk of post-election retribution.31 There will, therefore, need to be specific mechanisms put in place for successive elections to safeguard the security of voters as the country moves forward to implement international best practice regarding a polling station-based voters’ roll, as provided in the amended Electoral Act as amended for successive elections. Amendments to provisions of the Electoral Act were made in the run-up to the 2013 elections, Harmonised Election including the provision of electronic copies of the voters’ roll. This was meant to enhance access to information by electoral stakeholders and provide greater transparency to the process. However, nevertheless, some political parties were unable to access an official electronic copy of the voters’ roll before the election, which violated the spirit of transparency espoused in the Electoral Amendment Act. Assessment of Voters’ Roll 31 Opportunity and Risk in the Proposed Polling Station-Based Voters’ Roll – ZESN report. 31 | P a g e