Voter Registries – Date of Elections The reliability of the voter registries created via the Address-based Population Registry System, the number of voters and the irregularities in voter registration are topics that lead to wide public debate in nearly all elections. Following the disclosure of the voter registries, a woman by the name of Ş.G. has made an application to AMER, has stated that she lives with her husband in a house owned by her but that an unknown male voter was also registered at their address. The search we conducted on the SBE voter query system confirmed that the applicant’s claims were true. Similar reports were also covered by the media. 8 In addition to irregularities in the voter registries, there have been reports of people being deleted from the voter registry although no change had taken place in their legal status, or people who had not been deleted from the system although they were deceased. An incident reported by one of our independent observes in Gaziantep: “The voter certificates of S.K., D.S., and E.S., who were registered at Ballot box No: 1150 at the Ali Küncülü Middle School, were handed over to the polling station committee by the superintendent of the building who stated that these persons did not live at that address”. States must take effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote are able to exercise that right. Where registration of voters is required, it should be facilitated and obstacles to such registration should not be imposed. If residence requirements apply to registration, they must be reasonable, and should not be imposed in such a way as to exclude the homeless from the right to vote. Any abusive interference with registration or voting as well as intimidation or coercion of voters should be prohibited by penal laws and those laws should be strictly enforced. Voter education and registration campaigns are necessary to ensure the effective exercise of article 25 rights by an informed community.9 The current system deprives many individuals from exercising their right to vote including the homeless, those living in tents and women in shelter homes. In response to a petition for information filed with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies regarding the number of homeless people in Turkey, their ages and gender, the ministry has responded ‘we do not have a data base’ for this information.21 Prior to the elections, a petition was sent to the SBE regarding the right to vote of women in shelter homes. The SBE’s response was that ‘’There are no activities regarding the right to vote of women staying at shelter homes and women’s guest houses’.22 There is no data regarding the literacy status or knowledge of Turkish of voters registered in the voter registry system. However, according to data published by the Turkish Statistics Authority (TÜİK), 8 http://www.aktifhaber.com/samsunda-olulerin-yerine-oy-kullanildi-1182849h.htm 9 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 25 paragraph 11. 9