Voter information

Information responsibility

The Election Authority is responsible for informing the general public about when, where and how to vote. This responsibility involves neutral information about the voting procedure, i.e. how to cast a ballot, the counting procedures and where more information can be obtained.

The political parties, together with the Ministry of Justice, are responsible for influencing voter turnout.

Preparatory work

Before each general election an information strategy is worked out, including a presentation of planned campaigns, main messages, target groups, explanations of the choices made and methods to measure and evaluate the chosen campaigns.

Before a strategy is adopted, the Election Authority gathers information about the situation in society in broad outline to be able to identity target groups and to find the most suitable channels or methods to reach the selected groups at that particular time. Similarly, the messages communicated will reflect the present legal framework and new features that will affect the voters.

Campaign methods

The information campaigns can be divided into two main groups; information for everyone and information for certain groups.

The list of methods presented below were launched specifically for the 2010 general elections.

Information for everyone:

  • Voting card, sent by mail to all persons on the electoral roll
  • The Election Authority's web site www.val.se
  • TV advertisements (both public and commercial channels)
  • Internet/web banners
  • Radio spots
  • Call center and e-mail service
  • Advertisments in printed press

Information for certain groups:

  • Paper advertisments
  • Information in sign language
  • Information sheet translated into 25 different languages
  • Printed brochure with voter information in 11 different languages
  • Film showing the voting procedure (in five languages); available on CD and publilshed on selected web sites.
  • Election material package to school elections
  • Brochure for persons requiring texts in “easy Swedish”
  • Information meetings with political parties
  • Information for homeless (posters)
  • Information in braille
  • Advertisments for sea men, swedes living abroad and visually impaired

Selected groups for the 2010 general elections:

  • Young persons/students
  • Persons speaking other languages than Swedish/immigrants
  • Persons with visual impairment or problems reading textual information
  • Persons having impaired hearing
  • Homeless persons

Evaluation

Before the 2010 general elections, the Election Authority measured and evaluated the information campaigns. The evaluation was carried out by means of telehpone interviews on two separate occasions; one before the campaings were launched and one towards the end of the campaign period.

The purpose of having two sets of interviews was to be able to measure and compare the level of knowledge about the voting procedure before and after the campaign period. The result showed that by the end of the campaign period almost everyone knew that general elections were to be held as well as the correct date for the Election Day. The voting card was the product noted by most interviewees and 98 percent claimed that they knew how to cast a vote.