certified copies are availed for scrutiny by political parties and other electoral stakeholders as may be necessary. 7. Security of data  The Regulations should clearly specify the role of ICTs in the voter registration process and data security mechanisms to ensure the privacy of personal information.  In addition, the Regulations must put in place mechanisms for IT support and data recovery and consolidation. There is need for all field equipment to be consolidated with the central servers and storage units to act as back-ups.  The Regulations should provide mechanisms for the electorate to check their registration status e.g. through the integration of SMS systems into the voters’ roll to enable citizens to verify their registration status via SMS or secure web based applications as is the case in countries such as South Africa, Indonesia and Pakistan. In Pakistan and Indonesia, for instance the EMBs used SMS to have voters check whether their voter registration details and statuses were accurate. In Pakistan, out of the 85 million registered voters 55 million successfully utilized the SMS platform at nominal financial cost to both the Commission and the voters 8. Objections, claims and appeals  The Regulations should provide for clear provisions for any objections to the preliminary voters’ roll.  In addition the provisions should allow for public verification of the provisional voters’ lists and should stipulate mechanisms for citizens to check their registration status physically and virtually. ZESN believes that such an arrangement would speed up the rectification of any errors in registration details in the system  The Regulations should also provide procedures for dealing with claims and appeals on omitted and wrongly captured names in the voters’ roll for instance, whether registrants will be required to apply for appeals, objections and claims in writing or otherwise.  The Regulations should prescribe clear procedures and stipulated timeframes for the filing of appeals, objections and complain by aggrieved persons.  In order to instil trust in the process the Regulations should stipulate penalties for offences by voter registration staff relating to visibility, forgery, falsification and fraudulent destruction of voter registration materials e.g. Voter registration kits, computers or any other equipment. 5 Zimbabwe Election Support Network ©2016