GUIDELINES

FOR
CONTINUOUS REGISTRATION
OF VOTERS

By

Paul Ayaeze
Deputy Director, Voter Registry
PREAMBLE
 The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
1999 (as amended) empowers the Independent
National Electoral Commission to conduct the
registration of persons qualified to vote and to
prepare, maintain and revise the register of voters;

 The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) empowers

the Commission to issue regulations, guidelines or
manuals for the purpose of the conduct of the
registration of voters and revision of the register
of voters.

2
REGISTRATION CENTRES

 The Continuous registration of voters shall be

carried out at State Offices, Local Government
Area Offices of the Commission within the
Federal Republic of Nigeria or at such other
places as may be designated by the
Commission.

3
PERIOD OF REGISTRATION

 The nationwide CVR Exercise shall be all

year-around. The cycle of Continuous
Registration of Voters shall be for a period as
may be determined by the Commission.
 During this period, registration shall
commence by 9.00am and end by 3.00pm
Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.
 Any person on the queue as at 3.00pm

during this period shall be accepted for

registration.

4
ELIGIBILITY FOR REGISTRATION
 To be eligible for registration, a person:
1. must be a citizen of Nigeria;
2. must have attained the age of 18 years, on or
before the registration day;
3. is 18 years or above but could not register
during the previous registration exercise;
4. is resident, works in, or originates from
LGA/Area Council or RA/ward covered by the
registration centre
5. not subject to any legal incapacity to vote under
any law rules or regulations in force in Nigeria;

5
ELIGIBILITY FOR REGISTRATION …contd

6. must present himself/herself to the

Registration Officials for registration and is able
to provide proof of identify, age and nationality,
if requested;
7. has registered before, but his/her
name/photograph/ fingerprints were not
captured; such a person must provide his/her
Temporary Voter Card (TVC); and
8. has PVC or TVC but his/her name is not on the
Register of Voters.

6
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION:
Online
 A person qualified for registration can pre-register online. The
Online Voter Registration System will allow a prospective voter to
submit his/her enrolment information. The information will be
accessible at all registration centres at the LGA /Area Council and
State/FCT offices. Where prospective voter biometric will be
capture to complete his/her registration process;
1. The prospective voter can access the online voter registration
portal and create an account. A confirmation email is sent. The
prospective voter can also access the online registration portal
using his/her social media account;
2. The prospective voter fills his/her personal data and delimitation
information. The portal will also capture the passport
photograph;
3. The application is submitted and a slip with unique identifier is
generated;

7
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION
Online
4. The generated slip MUST be presented at the
State/LGA/Area Council Centre to complete the
registration;
5. The prospective voter MUST present himself/herself to
the designated INEC LGA/State/ Area Council office
within 14 DAYS of submitting the application with a valid
means of identification to complete the registration;
6. The Registration Officer retrieves the prospective voters
application using the Unique Identifier in the slip
generated;
7. The Registration Officer compares the photo from the
retrieved voter data with the prospective voter that
presents himself/herself to confirm if he/she is the same
person;

8
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION
Online
8. If the Registration Officer confirms the person
present is the same as the person on the
online application, the Registration Officer
proceeds to capture his/her fingerprint and
photo. A confirmation email is sent. The
prospective voter can also access the online
registration portal using his/her social media
account;
9. Once the fingerprint and photo are captured
and submitted, a Temporary Voters Card
(TVC) is generated and issued;

9
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION:
Field Data Capture
 There shall be a team of two (2) Registration
Officers per Registration Centre for field data
capture.

 Registration Officer I (RO I)

 Registration Officer II (RO II)

10
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION
Registration Officer I (RO I)
 Assists People Living With disabilities (PWD) and/ or

non-literate persons, as well as persons seeking

transfer by using the PU Guide to ensure that they are
assigned to the correct delimitation (Polling Unit,
Registration Area and LGA).
 Issues all relevant forms

 Assigns the Applicant to the nearest Polling Unit (PU) to

his/her new residence.

 Issues PVC to registered voters who are yet to collect

such PVC.
 Handles all documentations on transfers,

revalidation /updates of voters and all incidences

11
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION:
Registration Officers

Registration Officer II (RO II)

 Captures intending registrant Biodata and
Biometrics using the IVED;
 Enters the data in the manual register;
 Issues Temporary Voter Card (TVC) to the
registrant.
 Handles all documentations on transfers,
revalidation/updates of voters and all incidences
using the IVED within the same RA.

12
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION:
METHODOLOGY
i. The Registration Area Officers (RAOs) will carry
out Registration exercise, PVC Distribution and
Voter Transfer during the period specified by
the Commission as Registration Officer (RO).
ii. Where the RAOs are inadequate, RECs shall
approve the selection of additional staff from
INEC state/FCT/LGA/Area Council Offices.
iii. At the end of the specified Registration period,
ROs will report to the State/FCT/ Headquarters
for data processing and backend activities.
iv. Each Registration team will have one IVED.
v. Each LGA should have adequate number of
IVED Machines for redundancy. 13
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION:
METHODOLOGY
vi. Registration Inclusion Form (EC1) will be issued to
every prospective registrant who is above 18 years to
fill to confirm that he/she has not registered before.
vii. The Registration Officer Il (ROII) operating the IVED
Machine will backup Registration Data daily on an
external hard drive and ensure that the data is
uploaded to the backend server.
viii. RO I issues Form EC 4 and receives transfer requests
and reports back to the EO for administrative approval
by the REC.
ix. RO II inputs and process the transfer request on the
IVED.
x. ROI retrieves the TVC from the registered voter and
hands over his/her PVC at the Registration Centre,
when they are ready 14
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION:
METHODOLOGY

xi. The EO will supervise the ROs and all the

equipment within the Registration Centre
including fueling of generators.
xii. VR Department will undertake periodic field
monitoring and supervision to ensure that the
data collection and upload are done correctly
and to audit the statistics of registrant and
utilization of materials.
xiii. The Register of Voters in each State/FCT Office
in PDF format shall be kept separate from the
(provisional) Registration Data pending the
completion of Claims and Objections and final
integration into the Database. 15
SAMPLE FORM Ec 1

IN D E P E N D E N T N A T IO N A L E L E C T O R A L C O M M S S IO N
P lo t 4 3 6 Z a m b e z i c r e s c e n t , M a it a m a D is t r ic t A b u ja

APPLICATION FOR INCLUS ION IN REGIS TER OF VOTERS

Surname Firstname MiddleName

Maiden name or Aliases(if applicable)

Ge nde r:Male Fe male Date o f Birth S tate

LGA: Re g is tratio n Are a Po lling Unit

Email: Pho ne No :
Residential Address:
Dis ability? Ye s No If Ye s , tic k ap p ro p riate b o x(e s ) b e lo w :
Albinis m Blind Co g nitive De af D o w n S y n d ro m e little s ta t u re P h y s ic a l s p i n a l c o r d i n ju r y
Autis m

o the rs
OCCUPATION
CIVIL S ERVANT S TUDENT BUS INES S TRADING HOUS E WIFE

ARTIS AN FARMING/FIS HING OTHER

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL
NONE PRIMARY SECONDARY TERTIARY OTHERS

I h e re b y d e c la re : ( T ic k a p p lic a b le b o x e s ) :
( 1 )T h a t t h e a b o v e p a r c u la rs a re t ru e t o t h e b e s t o f m y k n o w le d g e a n d t h a t I a m
n o t a lr e a d y re g is t e re d in t h is o r a n y o t h e r P re lim in a r y lis t o r R e g is t e r o f v o t e rs
( 2 ) T h a t I h a v e a lre a d y re g is t e r e d , b u t w is h m y n a m e t ra n s f e r re d t o t h e a re a o f
m y n e w a b o d e f o r w h i c h I a m p r o v i d i n g a c o p y o f m y P V C w i t h V IN

( 3 ) ( a ) T h a t I w i s h t o s h a r e m y r e g i s t r a o n d e t a i l s w i t h N IM C
O R
( b ) T h a t I d o n o t w i s h t o s h a r e m y r e g i s t r a o n d e t a i l s w i t h N IM C

S IGN OR FINGERPRINT
DATE

16
 DISPLAY OF PRELIMINARY REGISTER OF
VOTERS
 The Preliminary Register of Voters (PRV) shall be displayed at each
Registration Centre. The ROs will print the list of Registered Voters at
periodic intervals, preferably quarterly for display at the Registration
Centre, clearly marked as Preliminary Register of Voters.
 The Preliminary Register of Voters shall be available online (INEC
website) for any member of the public to verify his/her registration
status.
 The display of Preliminary Register of Voters shall be carried out in a
manner that ensures easy and unimpeded inspection of the register
by members of the public.
 Members of the public shall be allowed to inspect the register free of
charge.
 Any person caught tampering with the displayed Preliminary Register
of Voter shall be arrested and prosecuted.
 At the end of the display period, the Commission shall effect all
necessary corrections and proceed to produce the Final Register of
Voters.
17
 CLAIMS
 Any person who is qualified for registration
as a voter may, if his/her name is omitted, or
is incorrectly stated in the Register, claim in
writing in Form EC2, to have his/her name
inserted or to have any such entry, correction
or any other omission inserted.

18
 OBJECTION
 Any person who is a registered voter may by
notice in writing in Form EC3, object to the
inclusion of any name appearing in the
Preliminary Register on the ground that the
person:
◦ is not a citizen of Nigeria;
◦ has not attained the age of 18 years;
◦ is not ordinarily resident or working, or originating
from or an indigene of that area;
◦ is dead; or
◦ is legally incapacitated to vote 

19
TRANSFER OF REGISTERED VOTER

 At anytime during Continuous Registration of

Voters, an applicant may apply through the EO
to the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the
State where he/she is currently resident to be
transferred to a new Constituency, provided
that this is done not later than 45 days before
the next election. The application shall be
made on Form EC 4A and received by RO I
during CVR.

20
 
Procedure for Transfer
 The person who intends to transfer his/her registration
will apply through the Electoral Officer of the Local
Government Area where he/she is currently residing to
the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the State.
 Note:
The application should contain the current address and the
telephone number of the applicant as this will assist in
assigning him/her to the Polling Unit (PU) nearest to the
new address.

The applicant must apply in good time to the Resident

Electoral Commissioner, as no transfer can be entertained
or granted less than 45 days to the election.
21
 
Procedure for Transfer Within a Registration Area:

STEP 1
The applicant will fill Form EC 4A (Application for
Transfer of Registered Voter);

STEP 2
RO II will initiate voter transfer on IVED;

 STEP 3
If the Resident Electoral Commissioner is
satisfied that the applicant is currently resident
in the area, he/she shall approve the
application and transfer is effected; 22
 
Procedure for Transfer Outside a Registration Area:

 STEP 1
The applicant will fill Form EC 4A (Application for
Transfer of Registered Voter);
 STEP 2

The applicant will attach a photocopy of his/her

Permanent Voter's Card (PVC) to the application;
 STEP 3

The Electoral Officer of the applicant's Local Government

Area (LGA) on receiving the application shall ensure that
the transfer is initiated electronically;
 STEP 4

If the Resident Electoral Commissioner is satisfied that

the applicant is currently resident in the area, he/she
shall approve the application and transfer is effected.

23
 
Transfer Online

 The applicant can initiate all forms of Transfer

using the Online Voter Registration portal.

24
Conclusion

 Thank you

25