Legal frameworks often require applicants to disclose certain information to authorities when registering as a voter. In order to protect the ICCPRenshrined right to privacy, legislation related directly to voter registration is required to regulate and prevent the collection, use or dissemination of such personal data or information for any purpose other than the exercise of suffrage rights. This includes provisions that relate to iris recognition, fingerprints, photographs and personal identification numbers, as well as to ethnicity or other factors that could lead to discrimination, compromise the secrecy of the vote or place the voter at risk of political reprisal. In their voter registration procedures, states are called upon to specify what personal information and data will be publicly listed on the voter register. Similar safeguards must also be in place where voter lists are based on civil registration data. Clearly stating the permitted uses of information obtained from cross-checking voter and civil registers, and whether the information can be used for purposes other than challenging the registration of a particular voter, will also contribute to protecting citizen rights. Laws can regulate whether such information can be used for the campaign activities of political parties and candidates, police investigations, or commercial or other purposes. National legal frameworks are also entrusted with determining sanctions for the misuse of information obtained from voter registers. Overall, UN jurisprudence addresses voter registration fairly exhaustively, although it has not expressly called for the continuous or sufficiently periodic update of voter registers, to ensure that they are accurate and up-to-date. International treaties and jurisprudence do not determine what voter registration method is preferable, and consider this choice to be context driven, even if case law advocates sustainable and locally owned solutions. The specific issue of voter list transparency and accessibility is expressly referenced in the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol, which calls upon states to ‘prepare voter lists in a transparent and reliable manner’, with the collaboration of political parties and voters.1 Furthermore, the ECOWAS Supplementary Act A/SA.1/01/10 on Personal Data Protection recognizes the progress made in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the subsequent challenges in protecting personal data. The document equally identifies the rights of individuals whose personal data are being processed (Chapter VI) as well as the obligations of personal data controllers (Chapter VII).2 International Obligations for Elections 181 Part B. Electoral Components and Tables of Jurisprudence access to) the registers so that they may verify, object to or seek to add such names as they wish. To abide by its obligations, states are required to ensure that decisions on requests are made expeditiously within a set time period provided by law. Decisions can be subject to administrative and judicial appeal, to be determined within a similarly established and expeditious timeframe, so as to ensure that registered voters are able to exercise their article 25 rights on election day.